Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf
by The Engulfing Silence
Summary: There are so many things that we as humans are unaware of, or lack an understanding. The Bijuu are one of those things. Follow the Journey of Naruto Uzumaki as he befriends the yokai that was sealed inside of him and "she" helps him grow stronger. fem. Kyu
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any crossover elements that may be added into this story.**

**Naruto Uzumaki: Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf**

**Chapter 1: A fortunate Meeting and a Strong Beginning**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p><em>A long time ago there existed a nine-tailed fox. With one swing of it's mighty tails it could destroy mountains and cause Tsunami's. This fox, which was known simply as the Kyuubi No Yoko was considered the most powerful entity on earth. A demon, it along with eight others of varying tails numbered one through nine were know as the Bijuu.<em>

_However, very little is known about these beings. And sometimes, things are not always what they seem..._

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Sitting beside his window and looking out at the people walking by on the street, one Naruto Uzumaki wasn't sure whether to sigh or to cry. Naruto was a young boy of five years old, he had blond hair, and not the usual kind either. His was an odd golden blond color that seemed to literally shine like the sun, and startling blue eyes. However, the most prominent feature on his face were the six whisker marks, three on each side, running horizontally across his cheeks.<p>

The blond haired child was sitting alone in his apartment, on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest doing the same thing he did every day. Which was essentially wondering why he was alone, why no one liked him and why all the villagers glared at him with such a fierce hatred it would make demons flinch in fear. Unfortunately, he had never been able to figure it out, and had learned long ago that trying to would only give him a head ache. Or make him even more depressed, which ever came first.

He stared out of the window to his apartment and watched as people walked along the street below. Adults were walking, carrying their kids, holding hands with their significant others. Children were running through the street, playing tag or some other kind of game. Naruto often wished he could do those things, that he could have someone carry and hold him, that he could play games with the other kids, that he could be loved. But he knew it was nothing more than a dream, he knew what he would get if he went outside. There was only one person in the entire village who treated him with kindness.

Just than someone knocked at the door and a smile split little Naruto's face as he ran to the door and swung it open. "OJISAN!" he shouted his greeting to the old man who stood in his entry way. Hiruzen Sarutobi was an aging man in his mid to late sixties. He had graying hair and a wrinkled yet kind looking face, which helped create his grandfatherly aura. He was wearing a long white robe with red lining that covered him from head to toe, and a large white hat with the Kanji for "Fire" on the front.

"Hello Naruto-kun," Sarutobi chuckled at the boys enthusiastic greeting. He bent down and ruffled the boys hair, getting a playful scowl from the young blond. Despite the boy trying to knock the hand off of his head, he actually enjoyed the small gesture of affection due to the fact that he rarely ever got any. Something that Sarutobi was all to aware of. "I hear someone has a birthday today."

"You remembered," Naruto smiled brightly at the one person who never treated him like some kind of freak. Sarutobi was the only person who ever treated him kindly, coming to visit him when he had been in the orphanage, giving him this apartment after he had been found getting beaten by several drunk villagers. He was the only person who didn't hate Naruto.

"Of course I remembered," Sarutobi said with a smile, "how could I forget? You've been yelling about it for a week now."

Naruto blushed before his good mood faded a little, "no one else even bother's to figure out when my birthday is."

Sarutobi winced at the desperation in the blonds voice. In an effort to get rid of the boys frown he stood up and held out his hand, "why don't we go out and spend some time in the village to celebrate your birthday? There's a festival going on today that I think you would enjoy."

"I..." Naruto frowned as his eyes clouded over, "I don't know if I want to."

"Why not?" Sarutobi asked with a frown of his own, "you enjoyed the last time we went out didn't you?"

Truth was Naruto didn't, the last time they went out he was glared at. But he didn't want his Ojisan to worry so he quickly shoved his own insecurities aside. "Your right! Let's go!" Naruto grabbed the hand and began dragging an amused Sarutobi behind him.

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Sarutobi frowned as he noticed the large scowl on the face of the ice cream vendor he and Naruto had just gotten ice cream from. Not that it was all that hard to notice, the man wasn't even attempting to hide it from the Hokage. Sighing, he looked at Naruto who was happily licking away at the large, triple scoop, chocolate fudge sundae he had gotten. At least the boy was too busy to notice the man's glare, or so he thought.<p>

"Come on Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said, "why don't we try some of the games here?"

"Ok!" Naruto said before they began to move into the crowd. Everywhere they went it was the same reaction. People would give Sarutobi a differential bow, smile at him, right before they noticed the little blond he was with. Then they would scowl, their eyes would glare, showing a hatred and maliciousness that shocked and depressed the aging man to his core.

He tried not to let that bother him as Naruto led him around. They played several games, scooping up gold fish, a throwing game where if you knocked three bottles down you'd earn a prize and several others. Many of the vendors made their displeasure at having the blond inside their established booths clear, but with Sarutobi there they were all smart enough not to try anything.

However, not all people were being as... tolerant with Naruto's presence.

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"Hey Takeshi, take a look at that damn demon! Walking around like he owns the place!"<p>

"I know what you mean. And the way our Hokage gives him such attention and preferential treatment, it makes me sick!"

"Makes you wonder... what if the Kyuubi has the Hokage under some kind of spell."

"Do you think it's possible? I mean, he may look old, but he is the strongest ninja in the village."

"So was the Yondaime, look at what the Kyuubi did to him."

"You're right! But what do we do?"

"Heh, some friends of mine are getting together tonight, to mourn the passing of their loved ones. At least that's what everyone thinks is going to happen. Instead, we plan on taking that demon out once and for all! We won't let him walk around like he owns the place anymore!"

"But wouldn't the Hokage notice when he goes missing? You know how the old man is about the Kyuubi."

"Don't worry about it, my friend is on the council and when I informed him of what we were gonna do, he said that he would convince the other members to put the old man in a council meeting. With him out of the way there will be no one to stop us, those ninja who aren't getting drunk are patrolling the festival. No one will even be near the demon's apartment. So, you in?"

"Sounds like a plan, I'm in."

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>It was late at night when Naruto awoke to the sound of his door being busted in and his windows being broken. Jumping out of bed the blond had just enough time to stand up before the door to his bedroom was busted down. Two men were standing in the door way, but only for a second before they stalked into the room, towards Naruto whose eyes had gone wide.<p>

"W-What do you people want!" Naruto asked as he backed away from them. He knew what they wanted of course, this wasn't the first time this had happened. It had happened a few times before when he was living on the street, but he had thought he would be safe now that he had an apartment.

"Shut up demon! You don't get to ask questions!" one of the man shouted, spittle flying out of his mouth, from the smell and the slight way he was swaying the man was drunk. Not that Naruto knew or cared.

Said blond tried to get away only for both men to lunge and grab him. Naruto started kicking and screaming, trying to escape or at least alert someone who might help him.

It was too bad Sarutobi had so much faith in his people to do the right thing, even after all that had happened. Otherwise, he may have given Naruto an ANBU guard to protect him. Alas, they were all being deployed elsewhere at the moment, ensuring that nothing happened during the festival.

The men dragged Naruto out of his apartment, where about a dozen men were waiting. The moment the two came out a cheer went up and thus began Naruto's torture.

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"AHHHH!" Naruto screamed and tears came to his eyes as his hands were nailed to a wood fence with a kunai. His feet were dangling about four inches off the ground and his hands were above his head, blood was beginning to pour out of the wounds on his palms, down his arm, chest and back. "W-Why are you doing this!" asked Naruto through his grit teeth as tears stained his cheeks.<p>

"Why? WHY!" shouted one of the men, "because you killed our loved ones, that's why!"

"But I didn't!" cried Naruto, what could he say to make these people understand.

"Like hell you didn't!" shouted another man, he pushed the one who shoved a kunai through Naruto's hands out of the way and smashed a fist into the blonds stomach. Naruto gasped in pain and began to cough as all of the air was knocked from his lungs. "That child-like visage you hold won't fool us demon! We know all Kitsune are tricksters! Well guess what? This time the tricks on you!"

The mob soon began to take turns beating on the blond, for the moment the only weapons used were fists and feet. They hit his face, his stomach, his ribs, one even kicked him in the crotch, claiming that 'demons shouldn't have children' or some other tripe. All through out it Naruto could do nothing more than cry out or gasp depending on how and where he was hit.

Than, they brought out weapons. "AAAAAHHHH AH! AHHHHH!" the first thing they used was a broken bottle. The village who stabbed him with it did so on his left bicep, making blood begin to gush down onto his head. Another came up, this one with a kunai he somehow managed to get. He took it to the little blonds face and began to carve out his whisker marks, not just opening them enough to pur out blood, but carving all the way through the flesh until the muscles of his jaw could be seen.

Blood poured down his cheeks, running along his chin in a thick stream that looked like a miniature waterfall. The young boy's screams intensified but that just seemed to goad the villagers on more. The number of wounds they inflicted on him were both numerous and horrifying. One man had used a pair of pliers and tore off Naruto's toe nails, one by one. Another had taken a hot branding iron normally used for cattle and scalded his chest, face and stomach. When the man was finished the whiskered blond was suffering from multiple third degree burns.

"P-please..." Naruto gasped, "no more... I-I'll be good. I'll do what ever you want! Just please -"

"You can't give us what we want!" the dozen strong mob roared. "You can't give back all the people you killed!"

they continued their torture, one man busted Naruto's knee caps with a mallet. Another had done the same to his feet. However, it was the last attack that hurt worst. A man came in with a pitch fork, and stabbed it right in his stomach. More specifically, he was stabbed right where the seal was located. "GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! AH AHHHHH!" Naruto's wails continued, if it weren't for the fact that the Festival that celebrated the Yondaime's sacrifice was still going on, and the council had managed to drag the Hokage into a meeting, they may have gotten caught.

Had the villagers not been so drunk they may have noticed the seal appear when Naruto's blood was smeared across it.

As it was, the Hokage was not around to protect the demon, and the spot they had chosen to rid themselves of Konoha's stain was completely deserted of all life. As far as they were concerned, they had all the time in the world.

The tortures seemed to continue until Naruto was nothing more than a lump of beaten and bloody flesh, barely even recognizable as a human. The last thing he saw before darkness claimed him was a hammer that smashed into his face and sent him into oblivion.

Had the villagers been more observant they may have spotted the second seal on top of the first one, a one time defensive mechanism installed as a security device in case something ever damaged the main seal. As it was they didn't, and they would soon pay the price.

The villagers sent up a cheer, believing that the Kyuubi was finally dead. However as this cheer went up a red energy burst from the lump of raw flesh. It happened too fast for the villagers to even notice, red chakra burst forth from the blond and formed nine tails that then shot out, piercing each and everyone of them. They didn't even get a chance to scream as it burned their flesh, then their muscles and organs and finally, their bones. Soon the villagers were nothing more than dust that scattered on the wind.

Sometime during the night Naruto would be found by an ANBU officer who was doing a routine sweep of the village after most of the people had gone home. The red energy would no longer be visible or noticeable and the only sign of injury the blond would have would be several broken bones, the puncture wounds in his hands from the kunai, and a severe concussion.

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Naruto's eyes opened as he found himself in what looked like a sewer. At least he thought it was a sewer. Gray, drab walls with cracks running along their and there were pipes that glowed with a blue energy running every which way along the walls. Sitting up, Naruto realized he was in knee deep water, yet despite this, he was saw that his clothes and body were still completely dry.<p>

Getting up Naruto looked around and tried to figure out where he was. It didn't look like any of the sewers he had ever seen before; and he had been in every sewer in Konoha during his attempts to escape from the drunken civilians that would occasionally chase after him.

The young blonds eyes found a pipe running along the ceiling that was different than the others, where all the pipes glowed blue this one did not. Rather it had a deep reddish glow; it was also the only one that was leading in a direction he could go. He decided to follow it.

Eventually Naruto was forced to stop as he ended up staring at a large cage, it had odd black symbols that glowed with a purple energy along the bars, in the center of the cage was a piece of paper with some odd symbol he had never seen, but looked kind of like the stuff that the old man in the pointy had would draw; he wondered if the old man had been down here and drew it.

"H-hello!" Naruto called out hoping for an answer, for a second he there was silence. Than Naruto heard it, a sound he had grown familiar with as it had been one he had made countless times. Someone was crying.

Following the sound Naruto easily moved between the bars as he continued on towards the source, when he got to it he was surprised. In front of him was a girl, she looked to be about ten years older than he was. With long red hair that reached down to her mid back and a pair of bangs that framed a beautiful, aristocratic face, with high cheek bones, luscious red lip, and a small nose; her eyes were currently closed so he could not see the color, but she had rather long lashes that added to her beautiful features.

She was wearing a red Kimono that hid her rather beautiful figure, long, toned legs, wide hips with a small, firm, shapely rear that fit her five foot eight height perfectly and tapered into a lithe waist, before moving into a bust that fit her just as perfectly as everything else about her body did. All in all the woman was too beautiful to be human, not that the little blond had any real concept of beauty.

Nine fox tails laid limply at her side, and two fox ears were flattened against her head. Currently she was curled up in the fetal position as tears rained down her face.

For a moment Naruto was unsure what to do, he had learned long ago that he could not trust anyone except the old man with the funny hat. She could easily be trying to trick him into coming closer, however he also wanted to comfort the strange, pretty girl, having cried many times himself he knew she must be hurting and he could not stand to see others cry.

He tentatively moved up to her side and knelt down, she hadn't seemed to notice him yet as her eyes were closed. "Ano, are you ok miss?" he asked in a small, timid voice.

The young woman's eyes snapped open, Naruto saw that they were blood red, with a black slits running down the middle. They were some of the oddest eyes he had ever seen, and he had seen everything from white pupiless eyes that those blind people had, to those creepy red eyes with the odd looking dots in them. Even though these eyes were also red, they didn't scare him like the other red eyes did.

The young woman gasped when she saw a pair of bright blue eyes in front of her and nearly fell backwards, or she would have had she been in an upright position. She had not expected to meet her container so soon, or ever if she were honest with herself. In fact, thanks to the seal that held her in place and had been draining her power she had not even expected to wake up. Were it not for the seal that had been draining her power breaking, she likely would have never woken up.

For the past five years she had only been partially aware of everything going on around her, enough to know that she had been sealed and have a general sense of time, but no more than that. Then not but ten seconds ago she had awoken, only to be inundated with several images. Images of she was seeing through the boys eye, images of him being tortured, by people accusing him of being her, of killing others, of hateful eyes and painful screams. The young blond had been tortured so badly that his mind had been forced to bury itself deep enough within his subconscious to reach this place.

The mere fact that the reason he was here because of her caused her even more tears to rain from her eyes. Out of some kind of instinct that she didn't know she had the beautiful red head grabbed Naruto, pulling his body to her in a hug as she buried her face in his hair.

For a second Naruto's eyes widened and his entire body stiffened like a board as the young woman hugged him. Having never had a hug in his life except the occasional small one from the old man he was unused to being so close, except when people were beating him. He was about to start struggling when the young woman spoke.

**"I'm sorry," **despite her voice cracking it was still extremely an beautiful and soft sounding alto pitch. **"I'm so, so sorry," **she continued, **"thi-this is all my fault."**

Naruto's body began to relax as her voice reached his ears, the soothing and melodious sound comforting him in ways he had not felt before. He frowned as he tried to understand what was going on. Unable to think of anything he decided to simply ask the girl who was now hugging, "ano, why are you apologizing to me?"

**"Those people are hurting you because of me,"** the young woman replied to his question. **"Because I was sealed inside of you they feel that by hurting or killing you it will hurt or kill me. This is all my fault,"** she began to shake as her tears spilled out harder.

However, her body stiffened with surprise when a pair of small arms latched onto her waist; Naruto really had no clue what was going on, but this girl was apologizing to him for something that other people were doing. That simply wasn't right.

"You don't need to apologize," Naruto said as he moved his head up to look at her. "You've never tried to hurt me or done anything mean to me, I don't see why you're saying sorry for something other people have done."

The red haired girl looked at the boy in shock, all of this was her fault; had she been more prepared she would not have been caught off guard and forced to attack Konoha. She would never have been sealed in this boy and he would have never lost his family, she deserved nothing more than to receive this boy's hatred and the beatings he had taken from the villagers because of her. Yet this boy, this little, five year old boy was telling her she had nothing to apologize for. Her grip tightened as she laid her head on his, whispering thank you over and over again to the little boy who was still confused.

After a while Naruto decided it would probably be best if he knew what was going on, "Ano, if you don't mind my asking miss. Where are we exactly? And who are you?"

The woman blinked, **"I'm sorry kit I forgot you would have questions for me. Right now we are in your mind," **she made a sweeping gesture to the area around her. **"This place is called your mindscape, think of it as a place inside of you that you can go to when you want to or are in trouble."**

Naruto only understood half of that, this place was some kind of safe haven that he could go to but he really didn't understand what she meant by his mind. Could people go into their minds? Despite his confusion he nodded anyway, figuring he would learn what she meant eventually.

The young woman continued, **"as for my name, its Akane; however you may know me better by my title of Kyuubi No Yoko."**

Naruto thought for a moment, he had heard the old man tell him about the Kyuubi before he was sure of it. He blinked as he recalled the information, "I thought the Kyuubi was an evil demon that the Yondaime killed. There's no way you can be a demon."

**"I am kit,"** Kyuubi said sadly, **"however I am not evil I was… tricked into attacking your village." **it was part of the truth at least, but the boy was not yet ready to hear of the dangers he may face since she was sealed in him. **"As for the Yondaime, while he did 'defeat me' in a sense he could not kill me. Demons of my caliber cannot be killed by mortals, so he did the next best thing by sealing me into a new born baby."**

"Sealed?" asked Naruto, not really understanding what that means.

"**Yes, I am inside of you,"** Akane said, she wondered how best to describe the art of sealing, or at least how it pertained to their situation to a five year old. She shook her head, there was nothing she could really say that would make sense to the boy. **"All you need to know for now, is that I am inside of you."**

Naruto tried to comprehend what she was saying, "so your… sealed Inside of me?" Akane nodded, and the little blond tried to grasp what that meant. If she was the Kyuubi as she was saying, and she was inside of him, then… "is the reason those villagers hurt me because they think I am you?" he asked, that the really the only thing he could think of. Why else would they want to hurt him unless they thought he was a demon who was somehow inside of him?

The red head bit her lower lip as she nodded.

"Well that's just stupid," Naruto said with a snort.

**"wha-"**

"How can I be you if you're right here," Naruto said, as if that explained everything. And in a very simplistic way it did. "Besides you don't act bad," he added as an afterthought. After all, if she were the Kyuubi and the Kyuubi was supposed to be bad, he didn't think she would be crying and apologizing, bad people don't do those things.

A few tears came to Akane's eyes but she blinked them away as she reburied her face in Naruto's hair, holding on to him like a life line. Naruto didn't resist this time as he was starting to get used to the hug, a part of him couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of warmth she gave off. For a while they stayed like that, before Akane perked up.

**"Say kit," **she said getting Naruto's attention, **"do you have any dreams you want to fulfill?"**

Naruto looked at her tilting his head to the side in a cute fashion, had Akane not already been pretty much cuddled up to the boy she would have after seeing how cute he looked. A second later a foxy grin spread over his face, "of course I have a dream, I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever!"

Akane looked at the young kid for a moment, the boy seemed so determined and full of energy when he said that. Like there was some kind of fire raging inside of those blue eyes of his, she smiled at him. **"How would you like me to help you?"**

Naruto looked at her, his eyes wide as saucers, "you would help me?"

**"Of course,"** Akane said, **"I will help you become Hokage. I will teach you everything I know about being a ninja and will even go one step further, by turning you into a Hanyou."**

Naruto face scrunched up in confusion, "hand what?"

Akane giggled, **"not hand, Hanyou, I will let you become a half demon to increase your power."**

Naruto thought about her offer for a moment, she was telling him he would become a half demon. Was a half demon like Akane? Well if she was a demon, then he supposed that meant he would be half of what she was. In truth the offer intrigued him rather than appalled him, he was already considered a demon by the village so becoming a real one would not make a difference, at least that was how he perceived it. "Ano, will I become like you?" he asked.

Akane shook her head, **"Not quite, I am a full demon while you will become a half demon. That's half demon and half human. I will give you all nine of my tails, since I can regain my power easily enough if I ever get out of this seal. In any event, you will gain all nine of my tails, which will mix with your human chakra to form a weaker variation of Youki."**

Naruto did not quite understand what she meant by tails of power, nor did he know what chakra was but put it into the 'learn later' section of his mind. "Alright," Naruto said, "I would like your help in becoming the greatest Hokage ever!"

Akane giggled at his once again determined look, **"very well kit. Your training will begin soon. But first, you need to wake up."**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Naruto opened his eyes as he woke up in a bed he recognized as the one reserved for him at the hospital.<p>

"Are you alright Naruto-kun?"

Naruto blinked as he turned his head to look at the old man in the funny hat, "I'm fine Ojisan. Did you save me?" Naruto asked.

"I did," the old Hokage replied, not feeling the desire to worry the blond by telling him he had been found unconscious by one of his ANBU. "I am sorry I could not get there sooner I was in a council meeting."

_I suspect they did that on purpose so they could try to get rid of him,_ Sarutobi thought with a frown. If only he had more evidence of their wrong doing then he might actually be able to do something, _if only they had not been able to monopolize as much power as they have, this would have never happened. _Sometimes he cursed the Yondaime for dying, had he not died the bastards on the council would never have gained this much power.

It was not that they had taken control of his power, but rather, thanks to the Yondaime's death they had been able to gain enough power and clout over the village that they could cover up their tracks very well.

"That's ok Ojisan, it's not your fault people are baka's," Naruto said.

Sarutobi looked at him strangely for a minute at the odd sentence, while the beating had only been severe enough to send him to the hospital a few times he had never said something like that, normally it would be marked off as the occasional odd words of a child. But Sarutobi was not the Professor for nothing; '_could he know of the Kyuubi?' _Sarutobi shook his head at the absurd thought, there was no way a child could know of that. He was probably just being paranoid.

"_**Careful kit you can't let him know that you know about me."**_

Naruto blinked in surprised as the feminine voice of Akane rang through his mind. He looked around for a moment curiously, when he didn't see anyone other than the old man he thought, _"Akane-chan?"_

Akane flushed a little at the affectionate suffix having never had someone call her that before. Of course, she had never given her true name to anyone before so maybe that had something to do with it. She quickly shook the thought off and replied, _**"Yes it's me kit, now don't let the Hokage know about me. If he did no good could come of it right now."**_

Naruto did not understand but agreed to any ways, he looked up at the old man who seemed to be in his own world. "Hey Ojisan?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi snapped out of his stupor, "Yes Naruto-kun?"

"Can I go now?"

Sarutobi blinked before chuckling, no matter what happened Naruto always hated hospitals and wanted to get out of them as soon as possible. "Of course your wounds are all healed so you are free to leave."

Naruto grinned as he stood up, getting the clothes laid out for him on as he left.

Sarutobi watched the boy leave and closed his eyes, _I am so sorry I could not protect you more Naruto…_

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><p><strong>I fixed this chapter up, I really didn't like how my chapter was just like every other story where Naruto was being chased by a large mob, something that would be noticed easily and has no real basis on reality. I feel this was done a lot better. Anyways, there you go.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I won't tell you that I don't own Naruto, if you don't know that by now there is no helping you.**

**Chapter 2: Start of a New Life**

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><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>"<em><strong>Kit, Come on Kit, it's time to wake up."<strong>_

Naruto groaned as he heard the voice in his mind, it sounded familiar and he really liked how it seemed to sooth him. But right now, he just wanted to sleep.

"Five more minutes," Naruto grumbled as he buried his head under his pillow, as if that would somehow keep him from hearing the voice.

Within his mind Akane was unsure whether she should snicker at how stupid that particular idea was, squeal 'Kawaii' because of how cute it was, or get angry and start yelling because Naruto was not listening to her. She settled for an odd mixture of the first two.

"_**Come on, get up Naruto-kun,"**_ she called out after thinking about how adorable the child was and snickering at the thought that a pillow would block out her voice. It was a stupid idea since she was inside of him, after all. _**"Naruto-kun, you need to get up, we have a long day ahead of us,"**_ when her calls didn't work Akane began to get angry and shouted, _**"GET YOUR ASS OUT OF BED NARUTO!"**_

"GAHH!" Naruto shouted as he jumped right out of bed, or tried to before he got tangled in his sheets, fell off the bed, and landed on his head when he hit the floor. "Ow…" He muttered, sitting up and rubbed the back of his head. He looked around and blinked before squinting his eyes, "I wonder who woke me up?"

"_**That would be me,"**_ Akane snickered in his mind.

"_So it wasn't a dream?" _Naruto thought as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"_**No, it wasn't."**_

"_Oh." _

Akane snickered again. _**"Come on kit, get up and get some breakfast, your training begins today."**_

"TRAINING!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up in excitement. Unfortunately, he was still tangled up in his bed sheets and fell down again, where he began to squirm along the floor in an attempt to get himself free.

"_**HAHAHAHA!"**_ loud laughing came from his mind as Akane watched the boy struggle with his best sheets.

"_It's not funny," _Naruto pouted as he finally got free.

"_**It so is Funny. Now get up and get some breakfast, you'll need your energy for your training."**_

At the words training all thoughts on his previous mishap was forgotten as Naruto raced out of his room and into the living room/kitchen of his apartment. He had gotten this apartment from Ojisan a year ago, after he had been kicked out and the old Hokage had found him huddled up in an alley using paper as a blanket.

The apartment was in a word, awful, the paint was chipped and faded, all of the furniture was used and beaten, the floors creaked, the windows were cracked and on the outside walls near entrance were the words "Die Demon!" painted in red. It had not always been like this, in fact the place had been fairly new when the Hokage had given it to him. But after several break-ins and raids the furniture and walls had been destroyed and Naruto had been forced to find items like Microwaves in the dumpsters.

Not that this bothered the little blond anymore, it might have before, in fact just yesterday before the mob had come for him he had been crying about how people kept ruining everything he got. But today was a new day, he had someone who promised to help him, and that made everything seem insignificant in comparison.

Naruto walked up to the pantry and grabbed a stool before opening it so that he could get to the top shelves where he hid his foodstuffs behind his rotten goods. He had learned a long time ago that people would raid his food if they found anything, so he had grabbed a lot of the rotten smelling food, some of the only things that he could afford thanks to all the extra money he had to pay, taxes the grocers called them, and hid some of the other things he could buy that was actually edible behind it.

He pushed the cabbages and other nearly a year out of date food to the side to reveal his stock of food. Said stock consisted of ramen, ramen and more ramen, all of it in a variety of different flavors, though Miso seemed to be the most prominent available.

As Naruto began to cook his ramen, filling the cup with water and turning on the microwave for the three minutes it took to cook, Akane decided to voice her question. _**"Is that all you have?"**_ She asked in shock. She had only gone through some of his life since she had woken up yesterday during his beating, not wanting to violate his privacy any more than she had to in order to gain a better understanding of his life. As such she had not gone into things like if he was getting enough nutrients, and it hadn't seemed as important when he was getting beaten.

"_Yeah, why?"_asked Naruto as he began to happily slurp up his ramen.

"_**Oh, no reason, just curious,"**_ Akane replied lightly, while trying to get a better grasp of the situation. _**"Naruto-kun, why do you have rotten, out of date food in your pantry?"**_

"_Because it was the only thing the stores would sell me," _Naruto shrugged as he finished his ramen, he looked over at the pantry again, tempted to get another but stopped himself. He didn't have much money and couldn't afford to buy more. _"Something about taxation for letting demons like me live here."_

_**Those arrogant, filthy monkeys!**_ Akane raged mentally, cutting off her thoughts from her host as she began to pace within her cell. _**How could they do this to an innocent child! And they call me a demon! **_A part of her felt guilty since some of this was her fault, but she was determined to make amends for her mistake. More importantly, Naruto did not seem to hold a grudge on her and that meant more to her than the young blond would likely ever know.

She shook her head as she came up with a plan of action, she would start training him first, then she

would work on getting him something healthy to eat.

"_**If your finished eating, I want you to head out into the forest,"**_ she told her container.

"_Why?"_asked Naruto, not that he had a problem with the request, he loved to forest and the solitude it offered. He was just curious.

"_**So I can begin your training away from prying eyes, if people discovered you getting stronger they may try to kill you,"**_ she didn't want to sound so harsh, but she needed to get her point across and there was no sense in beating around the bush.

Naruto gulped, _"K-kay, I'll head out right now."_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Soon, the young blond found himself surrounded by trees as he walked through the forest around Konoha. He was not quite sure how far he had gone, but he knew it was likely farther then he had ever gone before. Within his mind Kyuubi was, with his permission, extending her senses out of the seal so she could ensure that no one was around.<p>

"_**Ok, I think this is far enough Naruto-kun,"**_ she said. _**"Now sit down and we'll begin your training."**_

Naruto did as told, finding a nice tree to sit against, _"so what am I going to be doing Akane-chan?"_

"_**You will be learning the first and one of the most important steps for any ninja,"**_ she told him, _**"Accessing your chakra."**_

"_What's catra?" _he asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"_**Not Catra, Naruto-kun, Chakra,"**_ Kyuubi corrected. _**"**__**Chakra**__** (**__**チャクラ**__**, **__**chakura**__**) is essential to even the most basic jutsu, mystical arts a ninja will utilize in battle; it is a mixture of the physical energy (**__**身体エネルギー**__**, **__**shintai enerugī**__**) that is present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy (**__**精神エネルギー**__**, **__**seishin enerugī**__**) which is gained from exercise and experience. Once mixed, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, think of it as a system much like your blood stream, to any of the 361 chakra points called **__**tenketsu**__** in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which for you humans are **__**hand seals**__**, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as **__**walking on water**__**, **__**exhaling fire**__** or **__**creating illusions**__**. **_

_**By mixing different ratios of the two energies, new types of chakra can be formed. The most common product is elemental chakra, which is used to perform elemental jutsu. Most ninja have a natural affinity to one type of chakra, but they have the capacity to create elemental chakra apart from their own affinity. There are six basic types, each stronger and weaker to another; five have been shown so far, but their relations, weaknesses, and strengths to each other are all explored, the sixth dealing **__**with Yin and Yang and the balance of mental and physical energies. In addition to these six elements, certain **__**kekkei genkai**__** can **__**mix elemental chakra**__** to form new elements, for example it would be possible to mix **__**water**__** and **__**wind**__** into **__**ice**__**. While many ninja can use more than one type of chakra, very few are able to use them simultaneously."**_

Naruto listened to Akane's explanation of what chakra was, when she had finished he scratched the back of his head and were the red haired woman out of the seal, she would have seen the look of dumb confusion on his face. _"Right, so what uh, what is chakra again?"_ he asked in a sheepish voice.

Akane face-faulted at his words, pushing herself into a sitting position she pinched the bridge of her nose. _**"You don't know what is chakra is, do you?"**_

"_No," _Naruto said, his mental voice sounding like a sad whisper. _"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…disa…disa… let you down."_

Akane realized what was going on, that he was afraid she wouldn't continue training him and quickly made out to rectify his thoughts. _**"Oh no, don't worry about it, I forgot that you're a little young to understand something that complex. You likely haven't even started the academy yet, huh?"**_

"_Uh uh,"_ Naruto shook his head, _"Ojisan says that I can't start until I'm six, that's next year."_

"_**Right, so it's not your fault you can't understand that,"**_ Akane frowned, how could she best to explain chakra to a five year? _**"Naruto-kun, what's your favorite food?" **_she asked as an idea came to her.

"_Ramen!" _his excited shout echoed throughout his mind scape.

"_**Right, I should have figured that,"**_ Akane snickered a bit, with how it seemed to be the only thing he ate it wasn't surprising. _**"Ok, think of it like this, chakra, is an energy that people use to do superhuman feats. Now I want you to think of chakra as ramen…"**_

"_Mmm…ramen…"_

"_**Focus kit,"**_ Akane admonished lightly, getting an embarrassed chuckle out of the blond. _**"Now your ramen is made of two things, the noodles and the broth…"**_

"_What about the toppings?" _asked Naruto, interrupting Akane's lecture.

"_**The topics come later,"**_she said, trying to keep his attention focused on her lecture. _**"now don't interrupt me anymore. The noodles would be your physical energy, while the broth is your spiritual energy, by combining the two you get ramen in the same way that combining you physical and spiritual energy gets chakra."**_

"_And by doing that I can do all those cool things I saw ninja's doing?" _asked Naruto excitedly. _"Like jumping really high, and walking along walls!"_

"_**It can do much more than that Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane giggled, _**"but we'll get more into what you can do later. First, I need to teach you how to access your chakra."**_

"_Oh…"_ Naruto looked kind of disappointed for a moment, though it was gone a second later. _"How do I access my… chakra?"_

"_**First, I want you to sit in a cross-legged position with your back straight and pressed against the tree,"**_ Naruto blinked a few times at what he felt was an odd request but did as told.

"_**Now, close your eyes and bring your hands together," **_her voice began to gain a hypnotic quality that made it impossible for Naruto to do anything but what she told him. _**"Make a cross using the middle and ring fingers. Now take deep, slow breaths and imagine a small ball of warmth in the pit of your stomach. When you feel it, let me know and describe what it is that your feeling."**_

Naruto did as told as he sat there, the ring and middle fingers of his hands forming a cross in front of him and his eyes closed. He tried to imagine the ball of warmth in his stomach, tried to feel it. However, after several hours with no success Naruto gave a disappointed sigh, _"I can't feel anything."_

Akane winced at the despondent tone in his voice and sought to reassure him, _**"Don't worry about it Naruto-kun, it takes time for people to learn how to access their chakra. Just be patient and you'll get there."**_

_"Thanks Akane-chan,"_ Naruto said, even though she couldn't see his face, Akane could almost feel the smile in his words and it warmed her heart in ways she had not felt before.

"_**You're welcome."**_

Naruto's stomach erupted into a growl, interrupting the tender moment between student and teacher. _"Hehe, I guess, I'm hungry," _the blond rubbed his stomach absently.

Akane rolled her eyes but smiled as well, _**"I can hear a stream nearby, I want you to go there and catch some fish."**_

"_Why do you want me to do that?"_ asked Naruto, confused by the request.

"_**So you can eat them of course," **_Akane replied absently, unable to see the horrified look on Naruto's face.

"_B-but why would I want to eat a fish! There alive!" _

"_**Well, yes, they are,"**_ Akane blinked in confusion at the horrified tone in his voice. _**"But they won't be once you kill them."**_

"_KILL THEM!" _Naruto shouted, his voice thundering across the mindscape, causing Akane to wince. _"Why _

_would you want me to kill some helpless animal?"_

"_**So you can eat them of course."**_

"_But I don't want to eat some helpless animal! That's really mean! I love animals!"_

Akane actually blinked several minutes before snorting, and people thought this child was a demon?

"_**Naruto-kun,"**_ she said as gently as possible, it wouldn't do for her to get upset at his odd morals, especially since he likely didn't understand. _**"This is the way the world works, it is natural. All animals are eaten by other animals. Insects eat grass and other plants, they in turn are eaten by lizards, fish and bats, while they in turn are eaten by larger animals. You are just doing as nature intended."**_

"_So it's not bad?" _questioned the blond.

"_**No, its not bad at all, in fact, without other animals eating the smaller ones the balance of the world become upset," **_it was an exaggeration, Naruto's eating of animals would have no bearing on the natural community. But it was better to tell a small lie so he would eat something healthy, rather than going to get some ramen back home.

"_Well… I guess if its natur… natural then its ok."_

"_**Yes, perfectly ok."**_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"ARG! You stupid fish!" Naruto shouted as he tried to catch one of the many fish that were swimming in the stream he was standing in. So far he was having no luck, as the fish would seem to know what he was doing and just swim away from his hands. "Come here you little!" he growled, trying to grab another fish…<p>

**SPLASH!**

…only to slip on a particularly slippery rock and fall into the water, scaring off the fish he was near.

"Arg! Why can't I catch any!" shouted Naruto in frustration.

Akane watched the boy fail to catch anything with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. _**"Naruto-kun,"**_ she said as said blond stood back up, grumbling a little about his clothes being soaked. _**"Close your eyes."**_

"_Why?"_

"_**Just do it,"**_ she said.

"_Ok," _Naruto closed his eyes.

"_**I want you to stay absolutely still," **_she once again modulated her voice into that hypnotic quality it had been when she had been helping him try to gain access to his chakra. _**"I want you to feel the current of the water, which way its going and how fast its moving. Then, try to feel the fish as they swim against the current."**_

Naruto did as told, he was perfectly still as he felt the water moving around him in the direction he was facing. At least most of it was.

He could feel small areas where it felt like the water was moving in the opposite direction.

"_**Those are the fish,"**_ Akane informed the boy as to what those small movements were. _**"I want you to concentrate on the one that is swimming just to your left, feel its movements. On the count of three, I want to swipe your hand across the water, just in front of the direction that fish is moving Ready, one, two, three!"**_

**Splash!**

Naruto opened his eyes as he felt his hand hit something, and was just in time to see the fish he had been focusing on hit his hand and fly out of the water and onto the land over by his left.

"YATTA! I did it!" shouted Naruto excitedly.

"_**Very good Naruto-kun," **_Akane congratulated, _**"now do that three more times and I think we'll be good."**_

Three more splashes later and Naruto was carrying four fish, using his shirt as a makeshift net. He walked some distance away and on Akane's orders gathered a dozen medium sized rocks and arranged them in a circle, then grabbed dry leaves and twigs and placed them in the center.

"_**Ok, now placed your finger in the center of the leaves."**_

Naruto did as told, and felt an odd, warm sensation move up through his arm, then his finger. Suddenly the leaves and twigs ignited in a spark. Naruto jumped back in shock, "What the hell!"

"_**Relax, kit,"**_ Kyuubi snickered a little bit. _**"I just started the fire for you."**_

"_You did that?"_ asked Naruto, his voice holding an awed tone to it.

"_**Yes,"**_ Kyuubi sounded decidedly smug, though Naruto didn't even notice.

"_So cool, will I learn to do that?"_

"_**Maybe, it depends on your elemental affinity."**_

"_Elephant-what?"_

"_**Elemental Affinity, it's something you'll learn of when your older."**_

"_Oh,"_ Naruto was tempted to ask Akane to teach him about elements now, but didn't want to upset the first person who really talked to him and thus kept his mouth shut.

"_**Now, grab those larger stick I made you get and stick the fish on them so they can cook," **_Akane said. _**"After you finish eating we'll work on accessing your chakra again."**_

"_Ok," _Naruto replied, he was feeling a little queasy about cooking something that was alive at one point, but didn't want to argue and thus did as he was told.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>By the end of the day a tired Naruto dragged himself back into his room. He had spent several more hours trying to access his chakra with no success. That had him feeling down but Akane assured him it would likely be a month or so before he would be able to gain access to this power that would allow him to do awesome things. It made him feel a little better, to know that she wasn't disappointed in him.<p>

He crawled onto the bed and into his covers, burying his head inside of his pillow. Who knew sitting around doing nothing more than searching for your inner energy could be so exhausting.

Before he could go to sleep a thought crossed his mind, _"hey, Akane-chan?"_

"_**Yes?"**_

"_How do i get back to the place you're at?"_

Akane's face gained a confused expression, _**"why do you want to know?"**_

"_I was hoping to visit you," _he said, a small, embarrassed blush on his face.

"_**Oh…"**_ even though he seemed to forgive her for what she had done to him, Akane had not expected him to actually want to spend some time with her again. It was oddly comforting to know she was wrong. _**"Well, to go back into your mind, all you have to do is close your eyes and think about coming back here."**_

"_M'kay, thanks…"_

With that, Naruto went to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>he opened his eyes again it wasn't to the sight of his cracked ceiling, but to the glowing pipes of the sewer that Akane had called his mind. He stood up and wondered how long he had been lying there, it must have been a long time since he didn't feel in the least bit tired.<p>

Shrugging the thoughts that he considered irrelevant off, he walked forward and made his way to the cage that housed Akane. "Akane-chan!" he called out as he stepped in through the bars. He looked around before hearing the sound of footsteps.

"**Naruto-kun?" **asked Akane curiously as she stepped forward and into the odd light that seemed to surround Naruto so he could see her. **"What are you doing here?"** she tilted her head,** "Didn't you go to sleep already?"**

"I already did sleep," said Naruto, wondering what she was talking about. He didn't remember coming back here but since he wasn't tired he had to have already slept… right?

Akane looked at him oddly for a second before realizing he likely didn't even know that he had just come into the seal immediately after asking his question. He probably didn't even realize that they were inside of his mind and most likely thought that he had teleported to some distant land. The thought was amusing enough to make her smile.

"**So what are you doing here?"** she asked, sitting down and splaying her tails.

Naruto hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to her, "I was just wondering, if you would tell me about yourself?"

"**About myself? You want to know about me?"** asked Akane, surprised once again by this strange boy.

"Yeah, I mean, all I've ever heard about you was how you were this evil demon who attacked our village." Akane's shoulders slumped in depression at that, but Naruto's next words made her shocked. "But that can't be right, I mean, you've been so nice to me, and your smart, and really pretty," he looked at her with those ridiculously large and innocent eyes. All the red haired vixen could do was bite her lower lip to keep herself from glomping the boy. "There's just no way you can be evil like everyone else says," he concluded.

Damn, how this boy could make her, the most powerful Bijuu on earth, tear up like this was beyond her. She tried to wipe them away before her young companion could notice, but was apparently not quick enough as Naruto saw the tears and his eyes widened and took them in the wrong context.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry! I'm really really-"

His words were muffled when Akane covered his mouth with one of her hands, she smiled at him as she wiped her eyes with the other hand. **"These are tears of happiness Naruto-kun, there good tears," **she reassure him.

"So I didn't make you sad?" asked Naruto, he really didn't want what might possibly be his first friend to get sad.

"**No, you didn't make me sad,"** she said, scooping him into her arms she set him down in her lap and pressed the back of his head into her bosom. Had he been anything other than an innocent child the position would have likely sent him rocketing with geysers of blood shooting out of his nose. As it was, all Naruto could think of was how comfortable this position was as he snuggled himself deeper in between her breasts.

Akane set her head on top of his and asked, **"what do you want to know?"**

"Everything," Naruto told her, "I want to know everything about you!"

Akane giggled at the childish enthusiasm in his voice. Well, he was a child so it was to be expected. "**Very well,"** she said, **"I can't tell you everything there is to know about me, that would take several years, possibly decades." **

Naruto pouted and Akane giggled again, **"but I think I can tell you a story about some of my travels."**

"What kind of story?" asked the excited blond.

"**Well," **Akane smiled, **"why don't I tell you about a friend I had many, thousands of years ago named the Inu No Taisho and his two sons…"**

* * *

><p><strong>So I'm not going to show everything Naruto learns, but I want you all to get a good idea of what makes Naruto who he is in my story. I'll have several times skips in this since no one wants to know every single day of his time in the academy, but there will be some important lessons that Naruto will learn during his childhood.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Naruto, don't own it, and by making me say this every time you people rub that fact in. WHY ARE YOU ALL SO CRUEL!**

**Chapter 3: Beginnings of Power**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>~Naruto-kun~" <strong>_came the singsong voice of Akane.

"I'm up, I'm up," Naruto grumbled out loud, his sleep addled brain making him forget to speak within his mind. He sat up slowly and yawned, stretching his arms above his head while he smacked his lips to dry and moisten them. For a moment he just sat there, not doing anything until he got a small mental prod from Akane telling him to get up. Getting out of bed he began his daily routine.

It had been a month since he had met Akane and started working on accessing his chakra, and since then the young Uzumaki had fallen into a routine of wake up, eat ramen, meditate in the forest, eat whatever he managed to catch, meditate again, eat some more, then go home and enter his mindscape where he would talk to Akane until he fell asleep in her arms. While the training was good that last part of the day was the best, as far as he was concerned.

"_So what are we doing today?"_ asked Naruto as he began slurping up his morning ramen. He had just managed to gain access to his chakra yesterday, which had been really exciting for the blond and had him jumping up and down for the rest of the afternoon. It had taken Akane nearly three hours to get him to calm down, not that she was much better as she had been just as excited for the blond.

"_**Today we'll begin the next stage of your training,"**_ Akane told him, _**"Go to our usual spot in the forest and we'll get started."**_

"_Ossu." _When Naruto finished with his meal he tossed the empty cup and used chopsticks into an overflowing trashcan. Akane made a mental note to make him clean his house when he got home as the blond stepped out and closed the door behind him. He took off without locking it, there was no need since he had nothing of value anymore and it wasn't like it ever stopped people from breaking in anyways.

He ran down the street, completely ignoring the scowls and angered glares that were sent his way. Now that he had someone who cared about him, the glares sent to him by the villagers were less than meaningless.

Soon enough Naruto was running through the trees and stopped in the clearing he had been using, _"ok, so what now?"_

"_**Now we'll begin the second step, moulding and controlling your chakra," **_Akane commented as Naruto sat down in his usual spot as he listened to the demoness talk. _**"Moulding chakra involves the extraction of energies from both the body's cells and the mind's consciousness, then mixing them together within the individual. The amount of each energy will differ based on the type of technique the ninja wishes to execute. In other words, a ninja could create too much or too little chakra for a given jutsu, resulting in the chakra being used inefficiently. In addition, even if a ninja is able to mould the correct amount of chakra, if they cannot manipulate the chakra properly, the desired jutsu will not be as effective or will not execute at all. Wasting energy will also create weaknesses like early exhaustion, which would hinder the ninja's capacity to fight long-term battles. General training methods for improving one's moulding and manipulation of chakra are the Leaf Concentration, Tree Climbing, and Water Walking**_ _**exercises, at least for humans."**_

"_Yeah…" _Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, _"um…"_

"_**Right…"**_ Akane sighed, _**"needs to be simpler. Ok!"**_ she clapped her hands together, _**"Why don't we just start with a chakra control exercise and I'll go into more detail behind the mechanics and theories of chakra later. Naruto-kun, I want you to grab a leave and stick it on to your forehead, channel your chakra to your head to hold the leaf there."**_

Naruto didn't even question her as he picked up a leaf from the ground and put it to his head, he began channeling chakra to that spot, then removed his hand. He was rather surprised when instead of sticking to him, the leaf shot off his head, completely torn to shreds. _"What happened?"_ he asked.

"_**You used too much chakra,"**_ Akane told him, _**"if you use too much chakra the leaf will shoot off, too little and it won't stick." 'Of course he has so much it actually ripped the leaf to pieces, this is going to take some **__**effort'. **_She didn't mention that out loud as she continued,_**"you**__** need to find the correct amount of chakra to use in order to make the leaf stick."**_

"_Ok, I think I understand," _Naruto said, he grabbed another leaf and got to work. Sticking a leaf to his forehead proved to be a lot harder then it sounded, usually he found it flying off his forehead with enough force that it the leaf would actually get torn. It took the entirety of his three hour period before lunch to make any progress at all, progress being that now his leaf only flew about a foot away, rather than getting torn to shred from the force of getting shot off his head.

It was a little disappointing that he couldn't complete the exercise by the time he finished, but Akane didn't let him wallow in what he deemed as a failure. _**"That was an excellent job Naruto-kun,"**_ she said to him. _**"This exercise is actually harder for you than most, because you have so much more chakra then most people. The fact that your starting at such a young age is also a factor to consider."**_

"_So because I have more chakra, it's harder to control?"_ asked Naruto as he ate the fish he had caught along with some of the wild berries that Akane had told him were edible.

"_**Yes, the more chakra you have the more difficult it is to control it,"**_ she paused. _**"I believe that's why humans start teaching children to mould chakra at a young age. Demons do the same thing with their young, especially considering youki is harder to control then chakra."**_

"_Why is that?"_

"_**Because Youki is many times more potent and powerful then its human equivalent, youki from even the weakest demon is about three times more powerful than chakra."**_

"_What about you? How much stronger is your youki?"_

Akane smiled as she answered, _**"oh, about a hundred times more powerful."**_

Naruto's eyes widened, _"you must be really strong."_

"_**Of course,"**_ Akane said, and Naruto got a mental image of the red head flipping her hair over her shoulder and smirking. _**"I am the most powerful Bijuu in existence after all. Now, finish eating so we can get started on your training."**_

Naruto nodded, even though Akane could not see it and scarfed down the rest of his food before standing up. _"So am I going to be doing the leaf sticking exercise again?"_ he asked.

"_**No, you're going to be training your body now," **_Akane said. _**"Another key to gaining strength is your physical prowess, so I want you to do one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred pull-ups, two hundred-crunches and then you're going to run around the forest at full speed until I say stop."**_

Naruto's eyes widened to epic proportion as she told him what he would be doing, "WHAAAAAAAAAT!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"WHAAAAAAAAT!"<p>

The scream echoed all throughout Konoha, causing many people to pause and shiver at the fear in at the shear terror the voice held.

Sarutobi had stopped reading his beloved Icha Icha Paradise and looked out of the window as the shout came, he shivered. _Why do I have this feeling that someone close to me is being tortured?_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Don't complain Naruto-kun,"<strong>_ Akane admonished as Naruto began blubbering about the exercises being too much. _**"If you want to be strong, you need to do as I say."**_

"_But… but…Fine,"_ the young blond child's shoulders seemed to drop.

"_**Now, don't be all down, this really will help you," **_the red haired vixen told her charge, _**"I just want you to reach your goals."**_

"_I know… thank you Akane-chan."_

"_**You're welcome."**_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto's new training regimen soon began, every morning after breakfast he would begin practicing chakra control exercises. It took nearly a month for him to accomplish the Leaf Concentration exercise, or sticking a leaf to your forehead. When that was accomplished Akane had him move on.<p>

The next step was tree climbing, this step was a lot harder than Leaf Concentration. It required him to channel chakra to the bottom of his feet and walk up the surface of a tree, too much and he was blasted off, and too little he would fall off. It didn't sound that hard in theory, but in practice it was much more difficult.

The thing about tree climbing was that it wasn't just about channeling the correct amount of chakra to his feet, it required more than just that, every time he wanted to take a step, he actually had to cut the chakra to that foot, otherwise, it would simply stay stuck to the tree when he tried to pull it off. This meant Naruto had to not only find the correct amount of chakra to channel, but had to time when he would dispel the chakra on his feet to move up or down the tree.

Akane had him accomplish this by laying on his back and pressing his feet against the side of a tree, he would then channel his chakra and attempted to walk up slowly. She would do what she could to coach him, giving helpful tips like telling him to 'clear your mind and focus only on the feel of his chakra and climbing up the tree', as well as giving him encouragement. Like his other exercise, this one required had taken a month for him to accomplish.

Now he was attempting to walk on water. If he had thought Tree climbing was hard, then this was just ridiculous. To do this exercise, the user had to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and using the repellent force, walk across the water's surface. This technique was far more difficult to master than the Tree Climbing exercise, because the amount of chakra that needed to be emitted changed constantly, meaning he had to monitor the amount he was expelling all the time.

**SPLASH!**

"WAHH!"

"_**Keep trying Kit!"**_ Akane said, snickering at her containers plight as he fell in for the sixth time this day.

"Bur…I hate this… so much," Naruto said as he climbed out of the water, shivering as a wind blew across his cold, wet skin. He stood there for nearly a minute, shivering before he decided to try again. "OK, let's do this again." The young blond began channeling chakra to the bottom of his feet, placing his left foot on the water he leaned on, his foot dipped a little but he quickly expelled more chakra to compensate. When he felt ready he placed his other foot on the water, he shook a little as his feet kept dipping in and out of the moving, liquid surface and he did his best to keep himself from falling. When he was ready, he began to move one step, two steps, three, four.

"Hey!" Naruto smiled, "I think I'm getting the hang of this!"

**SPLASH!**

"WAH!"

"_**MhmhmhmhhahahahaHAHAHAHA!"**_ Akane began laughing hysterically as the blond once again fell in. Were any one else inside the seal they would have seen the crimson haired demoness rolling around on the floor laughing as she held her gut, and with tears of mirth streaming down her face. Who knew watching Naruto train would be so entertaining?

"_It's not funny!"_ Naruto scowled, as he climbed back out.

"_**It is too funny!"**_ Akane shot back even as she tried to regain her breath from all the laughing she did, _**"I only wish I could see the look on your face, HAHAHAHA!"**_

"_Why is this so hard?"_ asked Naruto in a complaining whine.

"_**Well, you can't expect it to be easy,"**_ Akane quipped as she got her laughing under control. _**"This is the hardest exercise humans have, at least I think it is, I'm pretty sure they don't go into any of the other exercises. So you can't expect to just get it right away."**_

"_But it's been two months!" _Naruto whined, _"the others only took me one month."_

"_**Which just goes to show you that this exercise is much harder than the other ones,"**_ Akane said. **"Now, let me dry you off then you can go and get some food."**Naruto felt his entire body relax as Kyuubi's Youki entered his system, his skin began to heat and steam, drying off as the natural heat from the vixens youki warmed it.

"_I love the feel of your Youki,"_ Naruto said with a content sigh, his eyes were closed so he could not see the light red haze of Akane's youki as it flooded through his coils and made it's way out of the pours of his skin. _"It feels almost as good as when you hold me."_

"_**W-what?" **_asked Akane, blushing at his innocent words. He had been making innocent statements like that ever since they met, for someone reason they never failed to make her entire face feel like it was on fire. She was confused as to why those words from Naruto always seemed to affect her so, no matter how hard she thought about it, she had been unable to find the answer. Maybe her biological clock was finally ticking?

She just hoped Nibi never found out or that damn hellcat would never let her hear the end of it.

She shook her head, now wasn't the time to figure out what it was about this boy that affected her so. _**"Go and catch something to eat Naruto-kun, after wards begin your physical training."**_

"_Yes, Akane-chan."_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi slowly blew smoke from his pipe as he looked out at the village, the paperwork was done, his secretary had none left to bring him, he had no ninja bothering and the council had been quiet since Naruto's birthday. Days like this, where he could just relax were rare and he was taking full advantage of that fact by smoking his favorite pipe. <em>Ah! This is the life...<em>

Just as he had those thoughts the door slammed open and in walked Naruto Uzumaki, yelling out in a loud voice, "OI! Ojisan!"

Looks like he spoke too soon.

"Ah, Naruto-kun," Sarutobi smiled, even if the boy had ruined the peace and quiet he had been enjoying the young blond always brought a smile to his face. "What can I do for you? You do know that it's not time for me to take you out to ramen for another two days right?" Ever since Sarutobi had found the little blond on his own, hiding from the weather under several sheets of newspaper in an alley he had taken it upon himself to ensure Naruto got at least one good meal when he could.

Sarutobi often wished he could do more for the young bundle of energy, but unfortunately his job as Hokage often kept him too busy to do more than spent once a month with Naruto. Shaking the thoughts off he focused his attention on said blond.

"That's ok," Naruto said as he sat down on the chair in front of the Hokage's desk, swinging his legs back and forth in a childish manner as they couldn't reach the floor. "I'm actually here to ask for something else."

"Oh?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. "And what do you need from me?"

"Well," Naruto gave a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head, "I was wondering if I could use your library to look up cool ninja techniques!"

"Ninja techniques?" Sarutobi looked both startled and amused, "Naruto-kun, you don't start the academy for another eight months, you'll learn all the ninja techniques then."

"I know, I know, but I wanted to get a head start," said Naruto, "that way I can show everyone how awesome I am!"

Sarutobi chuckled a bit, the boy was enthusiastic at least. "I apologize Naruto-kun, but the Hokage library is restricted to only myself and those ninja who have my permission to enter. You are not a ninja so there isn't much I could do."

"I can't even take a peak?" asked Naruto, with wide, innocent eyes that threatened to break Sarutobi's will.

"I'm sorry," Sarutobi said, doing his best not to look into the blonds eyes. "But it wouldn't be fair to the other students. However, if you really wish to get a head start you could always check out some of the books they have at the library. I believe they have a few books on ninja basics there."

"They won't let me enter," Naruto whispered in a hurt tone, it sounded like someone had kicked his puppy and was enough to make Sarutobi flinch. When the blond looked again there were all watery and had tears leaking out of the corner of his eyes, "the lady there kicked me out before I could even enter. She said demons don't deserve to learn."

Sarutobi felt his will crumble, even as his anger at hearing what someone told the young blond skyrocketed. How could anyone say something like that to a child? Didn't they know how impressionable young children were at Naruto's age? If you tell a child he's a demon enough times than he may believe, and if that happened Naruto would become the very thing this village despised and feared. It would be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"I suppose it would be alright if I let you take a look," Sarutobi admitted slowly. "At least until I have a _talk_ with the librarian," the way he said talk made it clear that he would be doing anything but talking.

He stood up from his chair and walked around the table, holding his hand out to Naruto who took it immediately. They walked out of the office and Sarutobi stopped to look at his secretary, "I want you to contact Ibiki, tell him he's to be at my office in one hour."

"Yes, Hokage-Sama," the young brunette said, Sarutobi had hired her for the simple fact that she was one of the few people who did not seem to hate Naruto, or at the very least, she hid it well and didn't let it interfere with her work.

"Come along Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said as they began walking down the hall.

"_**Kit, that was some very nice acting back there,"**_ Akane said, impressed with how well he managed to create tears on cue. _**"You even had me fooled for a second."**_

"_Thanks Akane-chan,"_ Naruto said cheerfully, _"I aim to please."_

He and Sarutobi reached the end of the hall and went down several flights of stairs, through another hall and stopped in front of a set of large double doors. Sarutobi placed his hand on a seal on the left door and began channeling his chakra into the seal. It glowed a light blue for a moment before there was a soft click and the door opened.

Saruto led Naruto through the door and into the room. The Hokage library was not that large, not compared to the public library. That was because the Hokage library contained strictly ninja techniques, where as the public one had a section for just about everything.

Still it was very large, with nearly two dozen rows of shelves filled with books and scrolls, two floors, several chairs and a table for reading.

"Now Naruto," Sarutobi started in a serious voice. "There are a few stipulations to me letting you stay here, first, you can only read from the basic shinobi section, section one. Weasel will be making sure that you do not read any of the scrolls and books in the other sections."

"Who's Weasel?" asked Naruto, tilting his head in curiosity.

"That would be me," said a voice behind Naruto.

"GAH!" Naruto whirled around and found himself staring into someone wearing the traditional ANBU uniform, which consisted of black and grey armour, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja sandals with spikes for traveling into mountainous regions, three ninja pouches on his back-waist and a signature spiral tattoo on his left shoulder. He had a porcelain mask in the likeness of a weasel and a standard black ninja-to strapped to his back.

"I apologize, I did not mean to startle you," the masked ninja, who could only be Weasel stated. It was hard to tell with the mask muffling the voice, and said voice being slightly monotone, but he sounded amused.

Naruto huffed as he crossed his arms and gave the Weasel masked Anbu a petulant glare, "just don't do it again."

Sarutobi chuckled and ruffled Naruto hair, "now then, Weasel will make sure that you only read what I allow you. Also, be careful not to damage any of the scrolls you handle, most of these are originals and therefore delicate. I am putting a lot of trust in you Naruto-kun, don't let me down."

"Don't you worry about a thing Ojisan!" Naruto grinned as he gave a thumbs up, unknowingly giving the nice guy pose.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"YOSH! MY YOUTH DETECTOR HAS GONE OFF!" shouted a man with a bowl cut, large eyebrows and the most hideous green Leotard like spandex anyone had ever laid eyes on. Everyone around this man suddenly jumped in startlement as he enthusiastically pumped a fist in the air. "WHO EVER THIS YOUTHFUL PERSON IS HAS INSPIRED ME! I MUST FAN MY OWN FLAMES OF YOUTH BY CHALLENGING MY HIP, ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI!"<p>

with that said the man took off, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust in his likeness behind. The people who watched him shivered in fear as a shout of "YOOOOUUUUUTH!" could be heard in the distance.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Over at a memorial that was made to honor those of Konoha who died in battle, in one the many training grounds of Konoha, Kakashi Hatake shivered. <em>Why do I have this intense urge to kill spiky headed blonds?<em>

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi grimaced as he saw the pose Naruto had taken; he hoped that Maito Gai never got his hands on the impressionable child. The horrors that would come of such a meeting were too terrible to imagine.<p>

"Then I will leave you to it, meanwhile, I am going to go speak with a subordinate of mind and have him "talk"to the librarian you were telling me about." He did his best to shake thoughts of a Naruto wearing green spandex with a bowl shaped hair cut and large eyebrows out of his mind.

"Ok! I'll just get started on learning awesome ninja powers, the next time you see me I'll be ready to take that hat!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically.

Sarutobi chuckled, "I'm sure you will." He said, not too concerned, after all, how much could a child like Naruto really learn in the few days it would take for him to straighten out the library?

He nodded to Weasel who nodded back and left.

Akane sighed, _**"Not quite what I had hoped but at least he gave you access to the library, we should be able to learn more about ninja techniques then we can at the academy, even with the restrictions."**_

"_**Naruto-kun, go grab a book on shinobi basics."**_

"_Ossu!" _Naruto ran to the section Sarutobi had pointed out and immediately began scanning the titles of the books and scrolls in that particular area. It was only then that Naruto realized they had another problem.

"_Uh… Akane-chan?"_

"_**Yes."**_

"_I uh… I can't…_

Akane blinked curiously as Naruto's voice was too soft for her to hear, like a whisper across the mindscape. _**"What it is Naruto-kun?" **_she asked.

"_I can't read…" _he mumbled, feeling ashamed of himself.

"_**What?"**_

"_I can't read."_

"_**But didn't –"**_ she stopped herself from speaking any further and nearly kicked herself, of course that hateful bitch of a matron that had kicked him out of the orphanage hadn't taught him how to read! Why she even thought that he might be able to despite this was beyond her, she knew that everyone hated Naruto enough that they would do all in their power to block him from learning. Knowledge is power after all, and they wouldn't want the "_demon"_ to gain any of that.

Kyuubi felt a growl escape her throat as the desire to tear out the matrons throat nearly overwhelmed her. But she forced the emotion into the back of her mind, it wouldn't help right now. She needed to help Naruto.

"_**Naruto-kun,"**_ she said softly, interrupting the boy who had begun to softly cry at his lack of ability. _**"I want you to allow me to take control of your body, I can memorize all of the scrolls here and manifest them in the mindscape, then I'll teach you to read. Ok?"**_

"_M'kay,"_ Naruto sniffed as he wiped his eyes, _"Thank you."_

"_**Don't mention it,"**_Akane smiled before she exerted her will through the seal, without Naruto's express permission what she was about to do would be impossible. The seal that held her was stronger than any she had ever seen, held together by the powers of the Shinigami, the Avatar of death himself. Even with Naruto's permission this would be a tad difficult without alerting the ANBU to any change in Naruto's chakra.

Slowly, she seeped her chakra through the seal and established hold of Naruto's own chakra, exerting more will over it to bring it under her control. Naruto, whose head had been bowed down lifted it up to reveal red eyes with black slits.

Grabbing the first scroll she saw Akane began to read over it, thanks to what she was she could do things like read a lot faster than any human could, and she had eidetic memory so she never forgot what she read. Going through the first book as quickly as possible she soon went on to the next.

All the books she read only had the standard information in them, what a ninja was, basic skills in stealth, tracking, tai, nin, and genjutsu, chakra and hand seals along with many other subjects that academy students were expected to know. There were a few jutsu that she got, but they were fairly weak and wouldn't be as useful as what she had hoped to find. Other books held content she already knew herself, like chakra, she had more knowledge on that subject than any scroll a human could write ever would. But others she didn't know and was quick to absorb the contents of those scrolls for later use. She didn't get as much as she had hoped out of the scrolls, but it was better than nothing.

Over by the door Weasel watched as Naruto ran through the books faster than an Akamichi ate food with an amused chuckle. The kid was definitely interesting, though what he hoped to accomplish by looking through a bunch of books without reading their contents was beyond him.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Later that night Naruto was back in Akane's laps within the seal. She had secured her hands firmly around his waist as she pulled him to her and set her hands on his lap.<p>

"**Ok Naruto-kun," **Akane held out her hands and materialized a book within them. This one was not one of the ninja books, but a basic book with the human alphabet and some words and sentences on it. It was a book that held a compendium of knowledge that Akane had on the human language, and would be what she used to teach the young blond how to read with. **"****We're going to start by learning the alphabet, now ****Japanese is an ****agglutinative language**** and a**mora**-timed language. It has a relatively small sound inventory, and a lexically significant **pitch-accent** system. It is distinguished by a complex system of **honorifics**, with verb forms and particular vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned in conversation. Japanese vowels are pure...****"** Noticing the look on Naruto's face that let Akane know he had no clue what she was talking about she decided to go a different route.

"**Why don't we start with the alphabet..."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The days wore on and became weeks, and the weeks became months as Akane continued helping Naruto. Teaching him to read was not all that hard, he could already talk so it was easier than teaching someone who was younger than him. All in all it only took two weeks within the seal before the young blond was capable of reading fluently.<p>

Afterwords Akane had Naruto add in learning one of the jutsu she had found in the Hokage library with his normal routine. Sometimes it would take only a day to learn one of the jutsu, and sometimes it would take a month, however, he learned all the ones that she had to offer.

All except one.

"ARGH!" shouted Naruto as he looked at his half dead clone, he couldn't understand it, why could he learn every other jutsu, yet this one technique was giving him problems?

"You stupid Bunshin! Work, damn you!" he tried to make the clone jutsu again, and again, and again, but no matter how many times he tried he always ended up with the same half dead clone. "Why can't I do this!"

"_**Because you have too much chakra,"**_ supplied Akane who had been watching in amusement for a while before deciding to take pity on him.

"_What? Too much chakra?" _asked Naruto in a confused voice.

"_**Yep, remember what I told you about the more chakra you have being harder to control?"**_

"_Yeah, you said that when someone had more chakra it was harder for them to use, and if they didn't have enough control they would… that's it! I was overloading the jutsu, even using the smallest amount of chakra I possess is still use to much for this technique."_

"_**Excellent Naruto-kun,"**_ Kyuubi said, pleased to find that her host was finally retaining and even using the knowledge she had given him. _**"Yes, your overloading this jutsu, the problem is, even if you have perfect chakra control there is no way for you to learn this particular technique, since the lowest amount of chakra you can emit would still be too much for you to handle."**_

"_So what I do?"_ asked Naruto, still feeling a little frustrated,_"I don't want to just give up."_

"_**And you won't,"**_ Kyuubi assured him, _**"we just need to find another technique that's similar to this one, something that allows to the same thing, maybe something even better than this technique. After all, this clone is just an illusion so you can't do much with it."**_

"_That would be awesome, but how are we going to find a jutsu that could replace the Bunshin?"_ asked Naruto. _"Ojisan won't let me into the Hokage Library now that I can go into the Public one, and I already read all of the books you memorized."_

"_**We'll think of something,"**_ Kyuubi said, confident that something would come up to help them with this problem. Something always came up sooner or later, all they would need was patience.

"_**Why don't you head home now," **_she suggested.

"_I suppose that would be for the best."_ Naruto channeled chakra into his legs and was soon hopping through the trees, making it out of the forest in only half an hour despite the ten mile difference.

"_**Naruto-kun,"**_ Kyuubi said as Naruto was walking through the now abandoned streets of Konoha, _**"someone is following you."**_

Naruto stopped and stiffened, prepared to run if someone was attempting to kill again. So far he had been able to outrun and hide from any and all the mobs that might have formed recently, since no one would expect him to know tree climbing, and he was sure he could outrun whoever was following him. But he didn't really want to run, he had been doing that all his short life and he was sick of it.

"Whoever is stalking me, I suggest you show yourself before I shove my foot off in your ass!" Naruto shouted.

Akane sweat dropped, _**"Did you seriously just say something that stupid, really Naruto-kun?" **_The kid may be getting better but who ever this person was was using chakra, she could feel it, and that meant he was ninja. Naruto stood no chance against a ninja right now.

Naruto ignored her in favor of the figure who had just jumped down from building. He had dark grey eyes, black hair that hung near his cheeks to frame his face and kept the rest of it in a ponytail at the back. His clothes consisted of a black shirt with a high collar that somewhat covered the lower half of his face, it had a large red fan on the back, and black pants with a weapons pouch strapped to his back.

The fact that this man had jumped from the roof told Naruto that he was a shinobi, making the blond tense. He knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against a ninja, the whiskered blond was now cursing himself for being so stupid, he had only just started his training a little while ago and he was only five going on six years old. He had no chance in hell of defeating a trained ninja.

Maybe he should have listened to Akane after all.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" asked Naruto with false bravado, preparing to run in case things got bad.

"I mean you no harm Naruto-san," the man said, and the five year old blond blinked as he recognized the voice.

"Weasel-san?" asked Naruto uncertainly.

"I'm pleased to see you remember me," Weasel said, giving the blond a small smile, it looked decidedly odd considering his voice had somewhat of a monotone. "However, my real name is Itachi, so you may call me that when I am not on duty."

"Itachi…" Naruto tried to the name out before shrugging. "So, what exactly do you want with me Itachi-san? Why are you following me?"

"I was just heading home after a mission and saw you coming out of the forest," Itachi said. "I guess I became curious and followed you, again I apologize for startling you."

Naruto slowly relaxed, after his last beating he could tell when people wanted to harm him, in large part due to Akane pumping his eyes and nose with her Youki. The results of which gave him increased vision that allowed him to see in the dark, and made his nose nearly ten times stronger than an inuzuka's. he could literally senses the pheromones on people and Akane had taught him to recognize them and what they meant. For the most part, there were some things she hadn't taught him yet, like that honey smell he had caught wind of when he passed a house where odd sounding shouts were coming from. When he asked her about that she had just said _**"I'll tell you when you older" **_and left his curiosity unsatisfied.

"In that case, is there something I can help you with?" asked Naruto, feeling better now that he could tell this man meant him no harm.

Itachi shook his head, "I was just heading back to my own home when I saw you and decided to make sure you got home safely."

Naruto blinked for a few seconds before shrugging, "well ok, thanks I guess."

"You are welcome Naruto-san," Itachi said.

Naruto looked at him for a few more seconds before he began his walk back to his apartment. Itachi watched as the young child of the two people he had respected the most in this world walked off, a thoughtful frown on his face.

That whole conversation had been both surprising and interesting. Surprising because Naruto had been able to actually sense him, despite the fact that Itachi was one of the few Anbu whose stealth skills were good enough that only the best Inuzuka trackers or a Hyuuga could find him. He hadn't been hiding or anything, but the fact that the blond had good enough senses to find him was still impressive. And it was interesting because of how the young blond had reacted when he showed himself.

The way Naruto had tensed his muscles, a sign that he had been coiled and ready to act if Itachi had shown any sign of attacking. It was both depressing and impressive; depressing that a young child, and the hero of Konoha had gained self-preservation abilities like that. Yet impressive as well, since while it was disheartening it showed just how powerful the young boy could become, if he could get proper training that is.

_He might already be getting training from somewhere,_ Itachi mused, _he was consciously channeling chakra into his legs. That he can access his chakra at such a young age…_

Itachi would have to watch Naruto more closely, maybe he would find some way to help him. He owed it to the boys parents after all.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Naruto-kun, come into the seal, I want to speak with you for a second," <strong>_Akane said as Naruto finished his after-exercise stretches.

"_Sure thing,"_ Naruto said, shrugging off the odd request since she could talk to him without him entering the mindscape. Not that he would ever complain about being near the one person who had helped him more than the Hokage.

He sat down under one of the trees and closed his eyes. He pictured himself entering the mindscape and willed it to happen.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Opening his eyes again Naruto found himself standing just outside of the cage that held Akane. He looked at it for a moment with frown before moving through the bars, and walked over to where the red head was sitting. "Akane-chan," he greeted as he sat down next to her.<p>

Akane smiled at him, **"Naruto-kun, now that you are going to be starting the academy in a few months we need to talk about your persona."**

"My what?" Naruto asked, blinking in confusion. What was she talking about?

"**Your persona, how you act in public," **she said, **"I've been thinking about it for a while now. With how the population of Konoha see's you, we need to hide your abilities and make sure they don't think you're a threat."**

"Um…ok, that makes sense actually," Naruto thought about what his the red haired demoness was telling him. "So, how do you think I should act?" he asked, because honestly he had no real talent in subterfuge.

Akane smiled, **"well… I was thinking of the best way to make you seem harmless, as well as get back at a few of the villagers…"**

* * *

><p><strong>For those of you who took the last part of my chapter to mean some kind of Inuyasha crossover element was going into this story, don't. There will be no Inuyasha, no Tesseiga or any of the other swords. I simply added that part to give Akane's character more depth, she is a several thousand year old Demoness who has done and seen many things, and I'm trying to reinforce that. But there won't be any serious crossover elements like actually taking a sword from a specific anime.<strong>

**A/N: this is for the accountless reviewer. Never sell yourself short, I was an accountless reviewer at one time as well. Part of the reason I still allow anonymous reviews is because it doesn't matter if you have an account or not, so long as your reviews are constructive and not destructive they can still be useful.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own Naruto! What? Why are you looking at me like that? I do, I own Naruto. WHAT! What do you mean its owned by Kishimoto? Fuck that! Ugh, fine, I don't own Naruto. There, are you happy now. Ruin my dreams.**

**Chapter 4: Academy Days pt. 1**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was early in the morning, the sun was rising, painting the sky in beautiful reds, yellows and oranges, and the people of Konoha were currently gaping as members of the Uchiha Police Force were busy running around Konoha, trying to pick up their undergarments, all of which had been hung around the many buildings of Konoha and dyed bright pink.<p>

The sight of the Uchiha police force, one of the most powerful clans in Konoha, picking up bright pink underwear that had been hung from the buildings, their faces burning with shame and anger, was a sight that shocked all those who were watching. Many of the people, including the red eyes themselves, wondered who had the audacity to do this to one of the most powerful clans and the people in charge of the police force.

Unbeknownst to all of them one six year old Naruto Uzuamki was watching the scene unfold from a nearby building, hidden under a camouflage sheet and snickering. _"What do you think of my latest exploit Akane-chan?"_

"_**I must admit I'm impressed,"**_ Akane said, laughing within his mind. _**"I've always hated that clan, their so arrogant." **_That, and she hated the way they treated Naruto, with his permission she had watched more of his memories. The Uchiha clan had been one of his biggest detractors, and a lot of the abuse he had taken from the ninja forces had been Uchiha. That had been more than enough to put them onto her shit list.

Of course, there were more reasons she hated them, but she wasn't going to say anything about that to Naruto until she felt he was ready for that kind of information.

Naruto smiled as he moved into a crouching position and jumped off the roof and into an alley. He threw off his camouflage and hid it in one of the many hidy holes he had created within the village. Walking out of the alley he bumped into one of the many Uchiha running around, collecting underwear.

"YOU!" the Uchiha shouted, gathering the attention of everyone else there as he pointed at Naruto. "I bet this is your doing you little D… brat! I'm gonna make you suffer!"

_And so the chase begins,_ Naruto thought as he laughed out loud and shouted, "then you're going to have to catch me!" with that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small self-made smoke bomb that he threw on the ground, covering the entire area in smoke.

"*Cough cough* where did he go!"

"I don't know!"

"I can't find him in this stupid smoke!"

"Damn him!"

"When I get my hands on that brat!"

The smoke soon cleared and the group of Uchiha looked around, spotting Naruto as he turned a corner. They soon ran after him and Naruto laughed as he began giving them a merry chase around the village.

Having memorized every single side-street, back alley and sewer tunnel, Naruto knew more ways around Konoha then anyone else and had no compunctions against using them to lead the Uchiha clan by the nose.

Looking behind him he saw the red eyes chasing after him, their Sharingan active as they tried to use it to track him down. He grinned, turning his attention back to what was in front of him and quickly turned another corner. Several trashcans were standing off to the side, and Naruto pulled out a small red stick with a wic on it. He felt Akane channeling her youki through his finger and grinned as the wic sparked and lit. He tossed the stick into one of the trashcans and turned another corner.

Just then the Uchiha had turned the corner he had previously turned a few seconds ago and the trashcans exploded, sending food, gunk and other kinds of garbage flying all over the red eyed clan members, who had all been blown off their feet.

Naruto cackled as he continued to run, he turned another corner and found more Uchiha that had stopped collecting their underwear at the sound of the explosion. They quickly spotted him and their faces turned to anger.

"Look there!"

"It's him! The Demon!"

"Get him!"

Running some more the blond haired troublemaker took several twists and turns as he pumped chakra through his legs to increase his speed. He pulled out more smoke bombs, along with some tear-gas he had made from onions, garlic, and piss from the Inuzuka's dogs. He let them drop behind him and grinned when they exploded into the chasing ninja, causing them all to stop and cough as their lungs, eyes and nose burned with the terrible mixture of liquids.

Naruto rounded another corner and into an alley before jumping on the roof. Going through several hand seals he disappeared in a puff of smoke, using the Henge, or transformation technique, to transform into a young Chunin with brown hair and steel-gray eyes. After which he began moving away from the parts of Konoha that had the Uchiha's dyed underwear. _"You know, pranking the red eyes is starting to get kind of boring. Do you think I should start finding other targets?"_ asked Naruto.

"_**Hmmm,"**_ Akane tapped her chin in thought, _**"it may prove useful to prank others, maybe you should begin pranking a clan like the Inuzuka's or the Hyuuga's, so that you can practice hiding from people who are good trackers."**_ It was unknown to everyone but Naruto and his inner demoness, but the blond didn't just use his pranks as a means of revenge. They actually had a three part purpose, the first being to get back at those who had and still do, wrong him; the second was too train in his stealth, evasion and espionage skills; and the third was to give himself the persona has a prankster and attention seeker, thus ensuring no one took him seriously and thought of him as a threat. So far, it had worked perfectly.

"_**Of course, just because you're going to select other targets, doesn't mean you should stop pranking the arrogant bastards."**_

"_We both know I would never stop pranking the arrogant pricks," _Naruto grinned as he stopped building hopping. He looked around, seeing no one in sight and figuring he was far enough from the most heavily populated centers of the village he dropped the henge, reverting back into his blond haired, blue eyed form. He dropped down from the roof and began to casually walk through the section of the village he was in, _"They need someone like me to ensure that their heads don't get so big they no longer fit through a door."_

As he continued walking along, a shadow came up behind him and an emotionless voice spoke up, "Hello, Naruto-kun."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"I demand that brat be punished for his transgressions!"<p>

Sarutobi held back a sigh as he stared at the man in front of him. Fugaku Uchiha was the head of the Uchiha Clan and leader of the Police force. He had short, black hair and onyx eyes, with visible creases below them that were made more pronounced whenever he adopted a stern look like right now. He wore a simple kimono with grey pants which had the clan's symbol on the back.

The man was currently trying to demand that Naruto be punished for the prank that had just been played on his clan. Somehow, someone had snuck into the Uchiha compound, and in the span of one night had taken and dyed all of their underwear pink, than strung them up on the buildings around Konoha. It was just one of the many pranks that had been played on Fugaku's clan, along with several prominent business owners.

"Do you have any proof that Naruto is the one who played this prank?" asked Sarutobi.

Fugaku scowled, "of course I do! He was there at the scene of the crime and ran away when my men tried to apprehend him!"

"A lot of people were there at the scene of the crime," Sarutobi pointed out, hiding his frayed patience behind a mask of calm. Fugaku had always hated Naruto for holding the Kyuubi, the Uchiha clan had been one of the clans that had suffered the most during the incident, losing nearly one third of their clan to the great demon. Because of that, even though Fugaku knew that Naruto was not the Kyuubi, he still blamed the boy for the fox's transgressions.

"Also, need I remind that your people had not even bothered to question him, simply blamed him for the prank," Sarutobi had seen the little incident that had caused the chase through Konoha and knew who was really at fault. "And we all know how the Uchiha Clan has treated him in the past so it's no wonder he ran when your men attempted to apprehend him and then chased after him. Besides," the old Hokage added when he saw the man's scowl increase, "are you telling me that Naruto was good enough to somehow slip past all of the clan members you have guarding your compound?"

If possible the Uchiha Clan leaders scowl increased as he found himself caught in the wily old man's trap. If he admitted that his clan was not good enough to capture one child, a child who was also wearing hidiously bright orange clothes that were impossible to miss, from sneaking in, his clan would end up being the laughing stock at the next meeting, even more so then they would be already for having this prank happen to them in the first place.

"No child could ever get past our guards," Fugaku ground out, knowing he had lost this battle.

"Then there is no way Naruto could have done it," Sarutobi replied, "but rest assured I will do all in my power to find out who did this."

Sending one more scowl at Sarutobi, Fugaku spun around and walked out of the door, slamming it on his way out. The Sandaime sighed as he let himself lean back in his chair, one hand absently opening a drawer and pulling out his pipe and some tobacco. He placed the tobacco in the pipe and lit it with a small Katon (Fire Release) Jutsu, absently puffing on it as he thought of this new problem.

The mass pranks had only started about eight months ago, around the same time Naruto had started the academy. Ever since then merchants, specific civilians and Clans had been hit with a string of pranks, though this recent one was the largest prank by far. He didn't really know who it was, and even though he, like many others, suspected Naruto since he was at every single incident, there was no actual proof that he had done it.

Besides, how does a six year old child sneak into the Anbu HQ and paint there changing room neon green?

Just then the door opened and in walked the trouble maker himself. Like always he was wearing an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as up and down the front, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl on the back, a big white collar, orange pants, and blue sandals. Why the boy had decided to pick up such a hideous outfit was beyond the aging Hokage, it was the largest eye sore he had ever seen, almost as bad as Maito Gai's green spandex.

Behind Naruto came his most trusted Anbu agent, Itachi Uchiha, who had an amused look in his eyes clearly visible even behind his mask.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, I just had a conversation about you," Sarutobi said.

"Was it about how you're finally ready to give me that hat, Ojisan!" asked Naruto in a very loud, very obnoxious voice.

"No, I'm afraid not," Sarutobi puffed on his pipe. "You see, there was a recent prank with the Uchiha Clan recently."

"Ano sa, isn't that your family Itachi-nii?" asked Naruto, looking up at the weasel masked Anbu agent.

"Yes, it is Naruto-kun," said Itachi, a smile hidden by his mask.

"So what happened to them?" asked Naruto.

"It seems someone snuck into the Uchiha Clan compound, stole all their underwear, dyed it bright pink and then strung it throughout Konoha –" Sarutobi was suddenly interrupted by a shout of "AWESOME!" from Naruto. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you Naruto-kun?" he finished.

"Eh? I saw all the pink underwear if that's what you're talking about," Naruto scratched the back of his head as his eyes took on a squint that made him look like a fox.

"But you have no clue who did it?" pressed Sarutobi.

"OF COURSE I DO!" Shouted Naruto, raising a fist into the air and shaking it, right before a dumb look crossed his face. "Um… where is the Uchi…Uchin… red eyed compound again?"

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose at the sheepish and stupid look at the blonds face, "never mind. You're supposed to be at the academy anyways, Itachi, see to it that he gets there."

"Of course, Hokage-Sama," Itachi bowed before placing a hand on the young blonds shoulder. "Come along Naruto-kun, time to go to the academy."

"Aw, but the academy is so boring!" whined Naruto as they made their way out, leaving Sarutobi to contemplate just who was pranking his village.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"I was most impressed with your prank this time," Itachi said as he and Naruto were walking towards the academy. He knew that the young blond really was behind the pranks, but it was so funny watching the others run around trying to find out who did it that he had not said anything. "It was very creative."<p>

Naruto grinned, "thanks! I thought it was pretty masterful myself."

"I am also pleased that you did not touch mine or my kaa-san's underwear," the normally stoic Anbu added with an amused look.

Grinning sheepishly, Naruto scratched the back of his head, "yeah, well…" the raven haired Anbu captain shook his head before stopping in front of the door that led to Naruto's classroom.

"Excuse me," Itachi said as he opened the door and had Naruto walk in, "I found him wandering around town and felt that it would be prudent of me to escort him to his class."

The person in charge of the class, a man with graying hair and green eyes, said, "Thank you," even as he gave Naruto a glare of malicious hatred. Itachi noticed the glare but did not do anything that would get him in trouble, instead making a mental note to report this guy to the Hokage as someone to watch out for. He gave a nod and left via Sunshin.

"Sit down… boy," The man said, scowl still in place.

"You got it, Shinsi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, he knew what the man had really wanted to say. Like many others Shinsi hated his guts because of Akane, no doubt the man wanted to call him a demon like the others but was prevented from doing so thanks to being in the academy with people who did not know of her being sealed into him. Naruto knew very well that there was a law that supposedly prevented people from telling their children or anyone else who didn't know about the sealing, though it didn't prevent them from telling the children to stay away from him.

He walked over to an empty seat, and plopping down and stretching out. The lessons soon began and Naruto found himself bored as hell, all the man was talking about was how the Shodaime Hokage founded the village, and Naruto had already read all about that.

"_Man, I'm soo bored,"_ Naruto complained to Akane as Shinsi continued droning on.

"_**Well, we could always come up with a prank to lighten up the moment,"**_ Akane suggested.

"_Maybe…"_ Naruto looked around at all of the students, they were all two years older than him. Very few academy students ever entered at the age of six anymore, since they were no longer in a time of war and the previous loss of shinobi from the Kyuubi attack had been filled for the most part, the civilian council had made a new law that essentially cut the shinobi academy down by two years. Now most academy students didn't start until they turned eight.

"Uzumaki!" Shinsi yelled, smirking at seeing him not paying attention, "Since you don't seem to like paying attention you can leave!"

"WHAT! But I am paying attention!" Naruto shouted as he stood up and jutted his chin out with a stubborn look.

"Oh, then when did the first Hokage found the village?"

"Uh… the day he founded the village of course!" Naruto shouted, scratching the back of his head.

Shinsi smirked as the class laughed at Naruto who was scowling. "Obviously you're not paying attention, and until you do I will not have you in my class," he may not be able to be so blatantly unfair that he would draw the attention of the Hokage, but he was more than capable of doing something like this.

Naruto scowled before walking out the door and slamming it shut. As soon as he passed the threshold for the academy he grinned, _"thank god, I really didn't want to be in there anymore."_

"_**To the training ground?"**_ asked Akane, grinning at her blond container, even though he didn't know it.

Naruto gave a smile that if the two could have seen each other, would have realized were the exact same, _"Of course."_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em>Ugh, I can't believe that jerk kicked me out again,"<em> Naruto thought to himself as he walked through the streets of Konoha.

"_**Are you complaining?" **_asked Akane, her voice belying her amusement.

"_Of course not,"_ Naruto said, scoffing a little. _"Honestly, how could I complain about getting out of that boring classroom, where all we learn about is that the Shodaime could make wood out of the nothing, the Nidaime could pull water out of the air, the Sandaime could pull every jutsu in Konoha out of his ass, and the Yondaime could flash from one point to the next in less than a second. It's the most boring class I've ever been in."_

"_**It's also the only class you've ever been in,"**_ she quipped.

"_Whatever, I –" _Naruto stopped talking and took a deep sniff of the air. There was a heavenly aroma coming from somewhere, _What is that smell? It smells incredible!_

_**Ooh boy, **_thought Akane as Naruto began to follow the scent, she knew what it was. Somehow, she wasn't surprised that it had caught his attention, she had honestly expected him to find it ages ago.

Naruto soon found himself standing in front of a small stand. It didn't look like much, just a very small building with flaps on it that said Ichiraku's; behind that the blond could see a small bar with several stools and behind that, what looked like assorted cooking gear. Even though it didn't look like much, this was where the smell was coming from and Naruto couldn't help but enter, his mouth watering slightly at the scent.

As he stood at the entrance an old man walked in through a door in the back of the bar, stopping when he noticed Naruto standing there with a glaze expression. "Well hello there!" the old man said in a friendly voice, snapping the blond out of his daze and making him blush as he realized that he hadn't even noticed the man come in. The old man saw it and chuckled, "welcome to Ichiraku's! what can I get for you?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, only to close it several times. He looked at the man cautiously and was surprised to find that he had no malicious aura or ill-intent towards him. "Um…" the blond scratched the back of his head as he relaxed slightly, though he was still prepared to run if necessary. "I'm not sure, I just sort of followed my nose…"

"And here you are," the old man finished with a chuckle, "well, hop on the stool and I'll give you a menu."

Doing as Naruto hopped on the closest stool, where he began swinging his legs slightly since they were about two feet off the ground. The old man came over and passed him a menu, pausing when he noticed the whisker marks. Naruto saw him looking at them and tensed, an act which did not go unnoticed by the old ramen chef owner as he set the menu next to him and gave a smile. "Just let me know what you want, and I'll have it cooked up in a jiff!"

Naruto gaped at him for a moment before blushing, speaking in a low voice he said, "I – I would like to try something but I don't have any money…" he moved to get up but received a shock when the old man placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"Then the first time will be on the house!" he said, a cheerful smile on his face. "It would be a shame if I were to lose a customer just because he didn't have any money on him. Now, what will you have?"

"Um… I don't know," Naruto looked at the menu, "maybe… some Miso?"

"Miso huh? Comin' right up!" the old man turned his head and cupped his mouth as he shouted, "Oi, Ayame! Get in here, we have a customer!"

"Ok!" a voice came from the back before a young girl, who looked to be around ten or eleven years old, with brown hair that was in a bun and brown eyes came in. She walked over to the two of them and looked at Naruto, blinking in idle curiosity, causing Naruto to tilt his head in confusion. "KAWAII!"

The squeal startled Naruto so much that he almost fell out of his seat, and likely would have were it not for the fact that Ayame had somehow magically appeared next to him and was currently squeezing the life out of him. "Oh Tou-san he's so cute!" she gushed as Naruto tried to decide whether he should feel embarrassed by her words or petrified that this girl who he had met not more than a few seconds ago was choking him with her hug.

He was thankful when she let go, at least for a few seconds because she soon began to rub his whiskers. "I've never seen such cute birthmarks," she said, running a finger over them, they were slightly bumpy, rather than being smooth, almost like a scar. Against his will Naruto began to make a purring sound in the back of his throat.

Of course, this was the wrong thing to do when around a young girl. "KAWAII!" Naruto suddenly found himself back to being squeezed to death, and was now fearing for his life. He wondered how long he would survive without oxygen.

"Ayame, you may want to let him go," the old man said, "it looks like your choking him."

Ayame looked down to see Naruto, blue in the face, with swirls in his eyes. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to – I mean I was just trying –"

The old man laughed as Naruto began to get his bearings back, "how about you just help me make some Miso?"

"Miso? Coming right up!" Ayame said enthusiastically as she somehow appeared back behind the bar. Watching her do that, Naruto was almost reminded of the Yondaime's ability to flash from one point to another.

A few minutes later the food that the delicious smell was coming from was placed in front of him by Ayame. "Eat up!" she said cheerfully. Naruto sniffed at the ramen, taking in its heavenly aroma before breaking apart a pair of chopsticks. Wrapping the noodles around them he took a bite, rolling the food around in his mouth before he froze. The Ramen chef and his daughter tensed, wondering if he didn't like the ramen.

"This… THIS IS DELICIOUS!" Naruto shouted, right before he began to gorge himself on the bowl of ramen.

The old man looked from the currently stuffing his face Naruto to his daughter, "Ayame-chan, I think we just found our number one customer."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Ok Naruto-kun, I think you're ready to learn actual hand-to-hand combat,"<strong>_ Akane told her container as he finished exercising. The blond academy student had gained a lot physical prowess, for a six year old that is. With the extremely demanding work out, combined with his large chakra reserves and the very good amount of control he had over his chakra, Naruto could likely already beat any genin out there.

"_**Now, Taijutsu**_ _**is simply a basic form of jutsu**_ _**that typically does not require chakra, but chakra may be used to enhance techniques. Taijutsu generally require no hand seals**_ _**to perform and are much quicker to use than ninjutsu**_ _**or genjutsu. Taijutsu is simply put, hand-to-hand combat. Taijutsu is something that everyone, including most demons use in combat, and there are many different styles."**_

"_**The style I will be teaching you is called Kitsuneken (Fox Fist) and is a style I myself came up with many years ago when I was under the command of Inari-Sama (Fox god)."**_ Akane paused for a moment before continuing, _**"now, the style I'm going to teach you actually takes the essence of a fox and imbues it into your fighting, meaning that it requires the use of a combination of feints and quick counterattacks to weak and vital areas. We use trickery every chance we get to deceive our opponents and create openings in their guard to exploit, much like a fox. To use this style requires a great amount of speed, flexibility, dexterity, constitution and endurance."**_

"_Is that why you always make sure I exhaust myself to the point where I damn near pass out every time I train?" _asked Naruto. The exercises that Akane often made him do were always extremely exhausting and often painful, several times he had been so tired that he had fallen asleep in the training field. Those were the few times he cursed the vixen in his head.

"_**Yes, this style is not made for humans. It requires more energy and ability then a regular human can produce,"**_ Akane hummed in thought. _**"I had been debating on teaching you this style until you turned into a Hanyou, but I feel it would be better if you got a decent grasp on it sooner, rather then later. Head home and come into the seal so I can begin working on this style with you."**_

"_Yes, ma'am!"_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Another year passed and Naruto continue to grow and improve. His nights in the seal were now spent working on his taijutsu, which Akane had shown him. For the first four months this had consisted of going through the kata's that he was taught, his friend and mentor would correct him when his stances when wrong, often making him go through all of them again if he made a mistake. During that time she would always comment on the various attacks that could be done from each position, and the best way to counterattack when someone would make a specific move.<p>

When Akane had deemed him passable in the taijutsu katas she moved onto sparring. Because of his A) lack of a sparring partner, and B) Akane wanting to see him so she can correct his flaws, she had Naruto spar with her in the mindscape. Sparring being more like beating the holy hell out of Naruto and then telling him what he did wrong.

"**Come on Naruto-kun, you have to do better than that!"** Akane shouted in a singsong voice that she knew would bother him and make him angry enough to make mistakes. Naruto never liked to be looked down upon.

"Grrr!" Naruto growled as he stood up, "I'll show you!"

He came in hard, moving quite fast for someone who was only seven years old. However, that was nowhere near fast enough to catch her off guard.

As Naruto moved in he aimed a claw swipe at Akane's mid-section. This was met with the red head using a hand to subtly shift his attack away from her, while at the same time using her other hand to launch a fast strike that caught the blond in the solar plexus. Naruto gasp and likely would have flown back several feet and landed on his back, but Akane had grabbed his left wrist and pulled him before he could get away.

She spun around one hundred and eighty degrees, taking Naruto with her before she let go, releasing the blond and sending him flying several feet away, where he hit the ground rolled along the ground before coming to a stop several feet away.

"**You're not thinking clearly anymore,"** Akane admonished, **"you can't let yourself go off half-cocked and expect to win. Often times it's not the stronger opponent who wins, but the one who thinks with the clearest head."**

"Urg, right," Naruto winced as he sat up and rubbed his chest, "sorry."

"**Don't apologize, just get back up and start again, this time, with a calm mind."**

Naruto took a deep breath as he stood up, his legs felt a little wobbly but he managed not to fall over. Looking up at his opponent he saw her standing there with the same smirk she had on every time they sparred. "Ok, here I go," he breathed, right before charging at her.

He came in with several high low claw strikes that were aimed at the vital points in the human body, Septum, Larynx, Clavicle, Solar Plexus, Floating ribs, Radius Bone, Inner thigh and several other areas of weakness. When using this form of taijutsu, it was necessary to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the creature you were fighting. Akane had made Naruto study up on the human body by going to the library, which he had been able to use ever since the Hokage had the previous librarian who worked there arrested and a more malleable one had taken her place.

Akane weaved through the strikes, lightly deflecting every attack that might have come close to hitting her. She was impressed with how good Naruto had become in just under a year, it showed just how determined and intelligent the blond really was. She almost felt it was a shame that he had to hide it from every one else.

Oh well, there loss.

"**Not bad Naru-chan," **Akane teased before lashing out with a soft edge strike to the throat. It was so fast that Naruto hadn't even seen the attack before he was on his knees, wheezing as he tried to take in a breath but couldn't due to having his throat temporarily closed from the strike. A minute later he was on his back again, in a slight daze after his nose had a meeting with Akane's knee.

"**I think that's enough for now,"** Akane said as she walked over to where he had landed after her strike. **"It's been about two hours nonstop fighting; your improving well."**

Naruto blinked several times in an effort to get the stars out of his eyes, he sat up a few moments later and looked at Akane. "How strong do you think I'll be when I graduate?" he asked.

"**It's hard to say," **said Akane, sitting down as her tails spread out behind her. **"On pure power alone, you'll be able to beat any jonin you ever run across, maybe even a kage, though you won't have the experience that they do." **That was something she would need to help him with, sometime soon she would have to help him with his first kill. But that was for another time.

**"And speaking of graduating," **she paused and took a deep breath, **"I think you should fail your first two years."**

"What!" Naruto gave her a shocked, wide eyed look, "why?"

"**Because we need people to believe that you're not a threat until I can change you,"** she said. **"If people saw what you were capable of right now, and if you graduated too soon, they would assume you were dangerous and it could get out of hand."**

"Well how long will it be until you change me?"

"**I need my Youki to fully integrate into your chakra coils, so I would say about… five years,"** Akane looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded, **"yes, five years should do it."**

"So when I'm twelve then?"

"**Yes."**

Naruto thought about what she was saying, he really didn't want to wait two extra years to graduate. But… "Fine," he said, "I understand what you're saying… I'll wait."

"**I'm sorry Naruto-kun,"** she told him, placing a hand on his left leg, **"but at least this way you'll also be with people your own age."**

"You know that doesn't really matter to me," he told her as he grabbed her hand and began to play with her fingers, an odd habit he had never gotten out of when he was younger and she used to tell him stories. "You're the only person I care about."

Akane felt herself blush, _**why does he always have to say the sweetest damn things? And so innocently too! **_She had never been in this situation before and had no clue why she was acting this way. _**Could I… could it really be? **_She wondered, but quickly shook her head. _**He's just a kid, there's no way I could be in love with a seven year old boy.**_

But if that were the case why was it that her heart would flutter every time he cuddled up to her when they were done training? Why was it that she couldn't get him off of her mind? _**Maybe… I do feel something**__,_ she admitted as she looked down at Naruto who was staring around her cell with a frown. _**But he's too young right now, while I don't really care about age he wouldn't even understand the concepts of a relationship for several more years. I'll wait and see what develops when he gets older, much older.**_

"**Is something wrong Naruto-kun?"** asked Akane.

"Yeah…" Naruto's frown continued as he looked over at her, "I was just looking around the mindscape. I've been thinking about this for a while, and I don't like how bleak it is. Is there a way to change it?"

"**I…" **Akane paused and looked at him curiously, tilting her head. "**I don't know, very few beings can actually use powers that affect the mind and even fewer can access their mindscape. Even most demons are incapable of accessing their mind. It's a very rare skill, the only reason you can do it is because I'm sealed inside of you."**

"I see…" Naruto thought for several moment as he looked around. Nodding to himself he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

Akane looked at Naruto oddly and opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing when she saw something that shocked her. From the point where Naruto was sitting, a ripple was spreading out, and when it left, only white could be seen. In only a few seconds, the knee deep water, the cage, the dark craggy walls and the barely illuminated landscape was gone. In its place was nothing more then what could be considered a white space, where there was no difference between the floor, the walls or the ceiling and the entire area just seemed to go on. Akane actually felt slightly queasy just looking at the white area that seemed to give no sense of direction.

Another ripple soon spread out from Naruto, however this one left green in its place. Not just green Akane realized with shock, but grass! Lush looking green grass a few inches tall, it spread out from underneath Naruto and began to encompass the floor. Starting from a point above her, blue began to spread out along walls and ceiling. Where the walls and ceilings had previously been was a light blue sky, with a sprinkling of clouds and a bright yellow sun. Trees and other foliage soon began to sprout up from the ground, covering the area to create a forest. The entire process only took several minutes.

Before Akane could marvel at what just happened a soft gasp of breath alerted her to Naruto, who was laying on his back looking exhausted. Sweat marred his bar and he was breathing heavily, as if he had just done one of the work out routines she had given him.

Crawling over to the blond Akane sat back down and crossed her legs, bringing Naruto's head into her lap where she began to play with his hair. **"You do know what you just did is impossible right?"** she said, grinning to hide the surprise she herself felt from seeing what had just transpired. **"No one without mind powers should be able to do what you did."**

"Perhaps I have mind powers and you just don't know it," Naruto smiled as he sighed in content as Akane's fingers lightly raked over his scalp. Closing his eyes he leaned into the red heads touch.

"**No,"** she looked at in amusement, **"the only clan that received the powers of the mind are the Yamanaka's because of a service they gave to Kami several hundred years ago, and the Rikudou Sennin who had done the gods a great justice and was rewarded with the Samsara eyes. And I don't have mind powers, so there is no way I could have passed them onto you."**

"Perhaps I'm just awesome then."

Akane laughed, **"Perhaps you are." **Her eyes softened a tad as she looked at him, "**your exhausted, get some rest, I'll take care of you."**

"M'kay," Naruto said with a soft yawn, "night."

"**Good night," **Akane whispered as Naruto went out like a light. That entire night she watched him as he slept, gently running her hands through his hair.

* * *

><p><strong>So some people have been suggesting women for the harem. I regret to inform all of you that there will be no harem. This story is strictly NarutoFem. Kyuubi. Why? Because I have never read a completed story with JUST this pairing. Normally, If Fem. Kyuubi is paired with Naruto it's always a harem. Therefore I am doing this so I can change it up a little. Besides, all of my other stories are harem stories, and they should be more than enough to satisfy you pervs out there.**

**Now, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**

**Ja ne!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Until the day I own Naruto comes, you will have to settle for this fanfiction.**

**Chapter 5: Growing Up**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi looked at the young blond who was like a grandson to him, giving him a sheepish and slightly ashamed look. "Naruto-kun," he said exasperatedly, "this is the second time you've failed. I'm not sure what to do anymore."<p>

"It wasn't my fault, Dettebayo!" Naruto shouted loudly enough that the windows rattled and Sarutobi had to cover his ears. "It was that stupid Kimiiko! He hates me, he always sends me out of class! And he never lets me participate in any of the activities! He hates me!"

"Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said with a disappointed look, "teachers go through several tests to ensure they do not show any favoritism or refusal to teach another student. Perhaps if you actually took your studies seriously, and not skipped class so much, you wouldn't have failed."

Naruto scratched his head for a moment before giving him a sheepish look, "I'm sorry Ojisan, I really did try. I just – class is always so boring! I don't care when the whatever law for lumber was made! I want to learn to be a ninja!"

The look the aging Hokage gave Naruto was a look between exasperated and amused, "Naruto-kun, if you want to be Hokage, then it is important to learn these things. A Hokage isn't just a fighter, he is a leader and it his job to make decisions that affect the entire village." He gave the sheepish looking blond a serious stare, "Understand?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto shouted, "I promise, next time, I'll pass for sure! Then you'll have no choice but to hand over that hat Ojisan!"

"I'm sure you will," Sarutobi said with a humoring smile. He watched as the excitable blond ran out of the door and sighed, wondering just what he was going to do with that child.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>So what should I do now I wonder? <em>Naruto asked himself, it was summer and he had just failed the academy for the second time like Akane wanted him to. He was now eight years old and would be placed with the kids his age next year. That meant he had an entire summer with nothing but training and pranks lined up.

"_**Actually, there's some place I would like you to go,"**_ Akane said, interrupting his musings. Before he could ask the obvious question, the demoness spoke again, _**"go behind the Hokage Monument, it should be somewhere around there."**_ She had decided that he was old enough to learn of his heritage, she had been working with him for a long time now, and he had grown a lot. She was positive he was mature enough to handle it.

"_Ok,"_ Naruto said, turning around and beginning to head in the opposite direction. He wasn't really sure where he was going but figured that Akane would tell him when he got there. The area behind the monument was mainly forest, with only a few small ponds dotting the area. It was uninhabited by any buildings or people. Naruto was curious about why that was, but didn't think on it long. After nearly an hour of searching Naruto finally asked, _"ok, what is it I'm looking for?"_

"_**In a minute, keep going forward, we're almost there."**_

Naruto sighed but did as told, walking forward for several more minutes.

"_**Stop!"**_

Halting, Naruto looked around to see what Akane thought was here. When he couldn't find anything he frowned, _"so what am I looking for?"_

"_**Can't you feel it?"**_ asked Akane.

"_feel what?"_

"_**Reach out with your chakra and you'll see,"**_ she replied cryptically. Naruto did as told, summoning some chakra and sending it out in a pulse just like Akane had told him. When he did that the blond saw an odd shimmer in the air, a wavy form similar to what one would find in the summer heat.

"_What's that?" _asked Naruto, curious since he had never seen something like that before.

"_**A genjutsu,"**_ Akane answered,_**"Genjutsu**_ _**are techniques that are employed in the same fashion as ninjutsu, requiring chakra**_ _**and hand seals. However, the primary difference between the two is that the effects of genjutsu are illusionary; instead of attacking the victim's body, like taijutsu or ninjutsu, genjutsu techniques manipulate the flow of chakra in the victim's brain, thus causing a disruption in their senses.**__"_

"_I know what they are you know,"_ Naruto said with a pout, _"you did explain them to me."_

"_**Right, sorry,"**_ Akane said, looking a little sheepish even though Naruto could not see her.

"_So you want me to dispel it?"_

"_**Yes, do you remember how?"**_

"_There are several ways to dispel a genjutsu, the first is to cut off the flow of ones chakra and then release the chakra in a greater amount then the genjutsu required; and the second is to cause physical pain to yourself to disrupt its flow."_

"_**Very good,"**_Akane said, _**"However, that won't work for this one. This genjutsu is an area wide genjutsu that has likely been here for several years, at least eight."**_

"_So how do I dispel it?"_

"_**You can't, you lack the finesse to dispel something like this," **_Akane said, smirking as she waited for him to get the answer.

Naruto scowled, _"then why are we –" _he stopped as the answer came to him, _"you can dispel it, can't you?"_

"_**Excellent job! Yes, I can dispel it."**_

"_Well I've already given you permission to take control when you feel the need, so do your thing."_

Naruto's eyes soon shifted from blue to red with black slits, looking around Akane spoke in a very soft language that Naruto didn't understand. A few moments later there was an almost gentle and undetectable pulse of Youki, before the air around began to shimmer. A few feet away a decent sized two story house appeared in front of them, wavering in front of them like a ghost before it became solid.

"_Where are we?"_ asked Naruto, _"What is this place."_

"_**Go in and you'll find out."**_

Naruto frowned, Akane was being really cryptic today. Normally, she would just come right out and tell him what was going on.

He decided to think about that later and just go in to get his answers. As he began to walk towards the house he examined it in more detail, it was a fairly nice looking house; made of a combination of brick and wood, right in front of it was what looked like it had at one point been a flower garden of some kind but had overgrown with weeds and other forms of flora. Aside from that the house was very nice.

"_Hey Akane-chan, how did you know this house was here?" _asked Naruto as that particular thought occurred, she seemed to know her way around Konoha pretty well considering she had been more busy destroying the village than observing it.

"_**You don't think the day I attacked was the only other time I've ever been to Konoha do you?" **_asked Akane, sounding amused.

Naruto frowned, _"So you've been in Konoha before? How come no one ever saw you?"_

"_**They did, they just never noticed who I was. As you've obviously seen I don't always look like a giant nine-tailed fox." **_

Naruto blinked in surprise at that, before remembering she was likely in her human form when visiting. _"So when were the other times you had come to Konoha?"_

"_**Actually, I was here before Konoha was ever built,"**_ she told Naruto, shocking the blond. _**"I, along with the eight other Bijuu were sent here by Kami to complete a task, when we accomplished that task, Kami gave us our own lands to look after. Being the strongest of the nine and a being of fire, I was given Hi No Kuni, the nation with the largest amount of land, to look after. It was our job to protect and act as the guardian of the lands we had been given, and we did so for nearly a thousand years."**_

"_**The one you know as the Shodaime Hokage had actually come to me to ask for permission to settle on this land. I was there at Konoha's founding."**_

"_Wow," _Naruto's mental voice held an awed tone to it, causing Akane to snicker. The blond frowned a moment later, _"wait, so why do people think the Bijuu are nothing more than monsters?"_

Akane was silent for a moment, then she sighed as she thought of how best to explain this particular piece of history. _**"Times change Naruto-kun,"**_ she said softly, deciding to be up front with her knowledge. _**"People change, over the years humans began to fear the power of us Bijuu, they tried to capture and subdue us out of that fear. I remember hearing about Ichibi No Shukaku (One-tailed Tanuki) getting sealed in a tea kettle, the Nibi No Nekomata (Two-tailed cat) getting sealed into a shrine. One by one all of the Bijuu became sealed away because our powers were so feared. All but me." **_

"_**Of course, you can only seal a Bijuu into an object up to the Yonbi," **_Akane could almost feel Naruto's amazement at her story and would have smiled had the story not depressed her. _**"When the Gobi was sealed humans soon began to realize that they could use the power of the Bijuu as weapons. It was actually the Rokubi No Raijuu (six tailed Weasel) getting sealed into a human and that human using its power to destroy a neighboring village that caused what you call the First Great Shinobi War."**_

"_Whoa…" _Naruto muttered, stunned at hearing the true reason for the first war. It was much different than what they were taught at the academy. It was much cooler too, in his opinion anyways.

"_**Anyways, I'll tell you some more later, for now, you need to go inside the house." **_Standing in front of the door Naruto looked at the door knob with a frown, there were several weird squiggly lines on the knob that reminded the blond of the seal on his stomach. Akane noticed what he was looking at and made to reassure him, _**"Don't worry about those seals Naruto-kun, place your hand on the door knob and it should open."**_

"_Ok,"_ he reached out with a hand and grasped the door knob. However, the moment he did Naruto began to feel weaker, it was with a start that he realized the door was sucking out his chakra!

He tried to pull his hand off, only to find that it was somehow stuck. Placing his other hand on his wrist, and a foot on the door he tried to pry it off to no success. _**"Calm down Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane said, trying to keep the blond from hurting himself, _**"it's just taking the amount of chakra you need to open the door."**_

As she said this the door stopped pulling on Naruto's chakra, and there was a soft click signifying the door was unlocked. Naruto stared at it wearily before, with some prodding along from Akane, he opened the door.

The first room he stepped into looked like some kind of living room. The area was carpeted with thick, rich looking carpet. On the farthest side away from him was a fire place, with a glass coffee table next to it and several couches around it. There were a few pictures of a man with spike golden blond hair that looked very similar to his own, and a beautiful red haired woman hanging along the walls. Despite no fire going and no one having lived in here, which was obvious from the several layers of dust that covered the furniture, it gave off a very homely feel.

"_Akane-chan, whose house are we in?" _asked Naruto as he walked around the room and looked at all of the pictures. Each one held either the golden haired man or the red haired woman, some had the man standing with what Naruto could recognize as a squad of genin; a boy with spiky silver hair, another boy with spiky black hair and goggles, and a young girl with triangle markings on her cheeks; there were pictures of the man with another man, who had long, spiky white hair and was wearing red kabuki clothes. There were pictures of the red head standing with a squad of Anbu who all had there masks off, or having her with her own squad of what looked like genin, even if the little black haired child looked far too young to be a genin; and pictures of the man and the woman wrapped around each other. Naruto didn't know why, but he felt like he should know these two.

Akane sighed as she sensed his thoughts, _**"Naruto-kun, why don't you go up to the second floor, enter the last door on the right and then enter the mindscape."**_

Naruto raised an eyebrow, a part of him just wanted her to answer his questions. Why did he feel like he should know those people in the pictures? Why did he feel like he had finally come home when entering this house, despite having never been here before? And why did Akane seem to know where to go in here? However, he knew her well enough to know that until he did what she told him to, Akane would not budge.

He followed her instruction, walking through the door in front him and into a hallway. He turned left, since that was the side with the staircase and walked towards it, and then up the stairs, absently taking note that there seemed to be a basement since the stairs led down as well as up. When he reached the second floor he looked around and found himself in another hallway. He walked through the hall and stopped at the last door on the right.

A sudden feeling of trepidation came over him. What would he find on the other side of this door? Why did he get the feeling that he was standing on the threshold of some life changing moment? These were questions that he had no answer to.

"_**Naruto-kun?" **_for some reason Akane's soft, alto voice made him relax, the feeling of trepidation was still there. But it was much more manageable.

"_Yes?"_

"_**Are you alright?"**_

"_I'm fine,"_ Naruto took a deep breath, blowing it out he opened the door and stepped through. He had not been sure what he would find on the other side, but what he did was certainly not what he expected. The walls were painted a soft orange with blue strips, all around the room were large, stuffed toys, and in the center of the room was a cradle. Naruto knew this was a nursery for a newborn.

For whatever reason the sight of this room caused unshed tears to gather at the corner of the blonds eyes. _"What is this place?" _Naruto asked Akane, _"why have you brought me here?"_

"_**This was going to be your room, Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane said softly.

Naruto's eyes widened, _"w-what?"_

"_**Come into the seal, all will be explained."**_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Within the seal Naruto found Akane sitting over by the lake he had created, her knees were drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs and her head resting her on knees. When she saw Naruto she moved into a cross legged position as he sat in front of her.<p>

She sighed as she saw the look he was giving her, it was a slightly confused look of trepidation, like he knew she was keeping something from him and all the trust he had placed in her had been misplaced. It was a look she had never wanted to see on the blond and hoped to never see again.

**"I promise to tell you everything I know, all I ask is that you don't talk until I'm finished. Ok?"** the young blond before her gave a sharp nod of assent. **"Now, where to begin… I suppose I should start by saying that I had been living in Konoha for six months before I attacked, or I guess it would be more accurate to say, was forced to attack."** She saw Naruto open his mouth to ask a question and held up a hand, **"all will be explained later, I promise."**

When the young blond closed his mouth she continued, **"Every decade I would head out of my home, a secret home I had built many centuries ago that no one other than myself can even reach, much less enter. I would travel around Hi No Kuni and gather information on what has been going on in my land, as is my job as its guardian. Konoha had been my last stop, mainly because it is this village where most of the important information and happenings come from."**

"**When I got here, I had done my usual routine, going into bars, which are always a prime source of information no matter the era, charming men with my beauty in order to find out if anything important has happened and exploring the town just so I could mingle with the people and make sure I knew the general atmosphere. While here however, something interesting happened,"** Akane took a deep breath before plunging on, **"I met your mother and father."**

Naruto gaped at the woman in front of him, she had met his parents? As an orphan, Naruto had always wondered about who his parents were. The matron had told him that they had left him because they didn't want a demon for a son, the old Hokage had told him that he didn't know who his parents had been, even though Naruto could tell the man was lying. It had been the reason he had stopped asking about them, he hadn't wanted to listen to one of the only two people who cared for him lie.

Yet here was Akane, saying she knew who his parents were? Why hadn't she told him? Why did she wait until now to inform him about his parents?

"**I had actually met them when I was wondering the town," **she continued on, unaware of Naruto's thoughts. **"Some pervert with white hair had attempted to make a pass at me, and after I had finished beating him into the ground I was confronted with your mother, stars in her eyes, telling me how cool I was." **

Akane favored him with a soft smile, **"your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, she was a kunoichi from the now destroyed Uzushiogakure, which is located on an island just a few miles off of Mizu No Kuni. Like all Uzumaki members she had bright red hair and purple eyes, and the fiercest temper you would ever see. I remember talking with her and telling her that I was actually a trader looking to establish a shop here."**

"**She introduced me to Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage… and your father,"** it was at these words that Naruto began breathing heavily.

"M… my father… is the Yondaime?" asked Naruto in a state of shock. The Yondaime Hokage had always been a mixed subject for him, on one hand, the man was considered the most powerful shinobi since the time of the Rikudou Sennin, even Akane respected him for his battle prowess. On the other, he was the man who had sealed Akane inside of him, the reason he had no family or friends, it was his fault that he had been abused, neglected, and beaten since the day he was born. And now, Akane was telling him that this man was his father?

"**Yes," **Akane said sadly, **"he was your father. Your mother was actually pregnant with you when I was doing my… negotiations with the Yondaime."** She sighed, **"Minato Namikaze was a man unlike any other, calm, collected and so highly intelligent that I sometimes felt dumb in his presence. However, he had one glaring weakness, which was also his most incredible strength. His trust in others, it was this trust that made him decide to seal me into you when I went on a rampage."**

"I… I see…" it was all he could think of to say. Never in a million years would he have suspected something like this. Of course, now that he thought about it what she was telling him made sense. Like just why out of all the possible children that could have been chosen to hold Akane, he was the one picked. What better person to hold such power then one's own son.

There was also Naruto's looks, he had always noticed the similarities between himself and the Yondaime. In fact he was surprised that he hadn't recognized the man in the pictures downstairs, granted he had been more focused on the house itself and wondering why the place felt familiar, but he should have recognized the man.

Ever since he had first scene the picture of the man in the Hokage's office he had seen the similarities, but he had written it off as a coincidence. After all, who would be willing to do something like seal a powerful demon inside of your own family?

He grit his teeth as he felt tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes, doing his best to hold the flood of tears that threatened to overwhelm him. He had never cried before, not since the beating he had received that sent him to Akane, no matter how bad things had gotten he had refused to shed tears and he would not do so now. Just as these thoughts came to mind, he found himself wrapped up in a delicate hug as Akane let his head rest on her bosom.

"**It's ok to cry, Naruto-kun,"** she whispered softly while a hand began to gently run through his hair, messaging his scalp. Naruto felt a tear run down his cheek, then a sob racked his body, finally, the damn holding up his emotions broke. His body heaved with earth shattering sobs as he remembered all the times he had ever been abused, all the times he had been neglected and isolated at the orphanage, every single beating and insult he had received. Throughout it all, Akane held him, whispering words in his ears.

"**Just let it all out Naruto-kun,"** she said, letting him cling to her tightly, **"Everything will be alright."**

The amount of time Naruto cried was interminable, time meant next to nothing while within the seal. Eventually, his tears ceased and his body stopped shaking. He slumped against Akane, whose only response was to hold him tighter.

"Why didn't you tell me before now?" he asked, his voice cracked and emotional from all he had learned.

"**Would it have done any good?" **Akane asked in a soft voice. **"Would it have changed anything? I wanted to make sure you were mature enough to realize what it meant to be the son of two such famous people."**

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, accepting her explanation at face value, his previous anger at her forgotten. She had never lied to him, and he had never asked her if she knew his parents, so in a way it was his fault too.

"**Naruto, Minato Namikaze was famous because he had killed nearly one thousand ninja in a single battle thanks to his Hiraishin," **Akane said. **"Not only was he the most feared man in the world, he was widely hated by Iwa, who feel he is the reason they lost the war."**

"If people knew I was his son they'd try to kill me, wouldn't they?" said Naruto.

"**Yes, and we already have to deal with the fools here," **Akane joked, trying to lighten the situation. **"Having to deal with both internal and external threats would not be easy."**

Naruto chuckled but it came out sounding more like a sob as he buried his face deeper into Akane's chest. "Thank you, Akane-chan, for not keeping this from me," he said softly.

Akane smiled as she kissed his hair, **"your welcome."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>The next morning Naruto woke up to find himself still in the room that had been set up for him. On Akane's suggestion, Naruto began exploring the house. The first two floors weren't much, the first floor held a kitchendining room, the living room he had entered from, and an office. The second floor was just filled with bedrooms, three guest rooms, the one baby room, and the master bedroom. They were all well furnished with nice, albeit, out of date and dusty furniture.

It was the basement, however, that drew Naruto's attention. The entire basement was in a word, gigantic. Larger than the house that sat on top of it, the basement consisted of three floors. The first floor contained a dojo, the room was just a large flat mat with a large mirror on the far wall. All along the walls, ceiling and floor were those odd looking lines.

"_**Those are seals Naruto-kun," **_Akane told him as he stared, _**"That's one of the things we'll be learning about here."**_

Naruto nodded as he explored the next two floors down. The second basement level was an armory, it was filled with racks upon racks of weapons, many of which he didn't recognize but Akane pointed several out to him. _**"That sickle with the metal chain and iron weight at the end is called a Kusarigama, the long staff is called a bo staff, oh, and those little dagger-like weapons are called Jutte."**_

"_What about those ones in the case?"_ asked Naruto, referring to the tri-pronged kunai in the glass case. They were bigger than the average kunai, with a wooden handle that the blond noticed had more of those seals on it. They were mounted in a glass case that was hung on the wall at the far end, there were nearly a hundred as far as Naruto could count.

"_**Those were the special weapon that your father designed his most prized jutsu with,"**_ Akane said. _**"I can't tell you much about it because frankly, I don't understand the mechanics behind it, but once you get more knowledge on how it works, I'm sure you'll be able to recreate them. Now, there's one more floor for you to look at. This one is the most important and where we'll be getting our information for the jutsu you'll be learning."**_

The last floor was a library, easily twice the size of the Hokage Library, with nearly one hundred shelves filled with all kinds of books, jutsu scrolls, schematics for exotic looking weapons and maps. The library was divided into several categories, non-shinobi related material in one section, taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu, fuiinjutsu and kenjutsu all had their own sections as well. Each section was further divided by subsections, the jutsu going by rank E, D, C, B, A and S.

"_**Go into the ninjutsu section Naruto-kun," **_Akane instructed, _**"there's a jutsu in hear that I think would be great boon for you."**_

"_Which jutsu is that?" _asked Naruto as he began scrolling through the ninjutsu section of the library.

"_**I believe I remember your mother calling it, Kage Bunshin No Jutsu."**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>After learning the Kage Bunshin Naruto's training began to sky rocket as he used the jutsu to its fullest effect. The reason for this was just because of what the jutsu did. The Kage Bunshin No Jutsu could create any number of copies of the user capable of Cohabitating with their surroundings, performing jutsu, and engaging in battle. They dispersed in a puff of smoke when sufficiently damaged or at the user's discretion. When clones are created, the user's chakra was evenly distributed among them, making it easy for the user to quickly expend all their chakra.<p>

The best part about this jutsu was that any knowledge a clone gained during its existence was transferred to the user when it dispersed. For normal people this wouldn't mean much, but for some who had even more chakra than the current Hokage, it was the perfect training jutsu.

Every morning Naruto would make upwards of one hundred clones, a feat he could do thanks to his near perfect chakra control, harnessed from three and a half years of ridiculous training, and Akane letting him use her Youki to reinforce the clones. He would divide them into three groups, an elemental manipulation group, a fuiinjutsu group, and a chakra control group for his ever increasing reserves.

His chakra control was more a matter of maintaining control as his chakra continued to increase. Having perfected many of the exercises Akane had given him, even the ones that demons did for their Youki, he had no real need to gain more. The only control exercises he couldn't do were the ones that required what the blond jokingly referred to as Bijuu amounts of chakra, meaning up to five tails worth of chakra.

His fuiinjutsu was progressing slowly, though thanks to his innate talent in the subject it was faster than other people twice his age went. Right now he couldn't do more then make basic storage scrolls and exploding tags, but it was progress and he had only started last month.

He had yet to truly touch on any ninjutsu beyond some of the more basic ones, mainly because most ninjutsu seemed to be elemental in nature. Because of this, Akane had him get some chakra paper to learn what his affinity was.

He stared at the torn, burnt and crumpled pieces of paper on the ground. The reaction he had gotten was not expected, having literally shredded itself to pieces before several pieces burst into flames and the other half wrinkled. _"So, fire, wind and lightning then?" _asked Naruto unsurely.

"_**Yes,"**_Akane said, also staring at the paper, though she had more glee than shock. _**"It looks like you have three elements, strong ones too. I would suspect your main element is wind, since it was the one that showed up on the paper first, your father was a wind element so it's not surprising. The fire you got from me, being a being of fire and all that."**_

"_And the lightning?"_

"_**Your mother, though it is surprising since her main element was water."**_ Akane shrugged, _**"but she did have a small lightning affinity as well."**_

The first element they trained in was wind, being Naruto's main element. The first step had been to split a leaf using his chakra, it was a little difficult but thanks to his clones he had managed it within the month. The key, Naruto had learned, was to imagine your chakra as two sharp edges grinding against each other.

It was after he had accomplished this that Akane spoke of her plan to give Naruto some experience as a ninja. _**"Naruto-kun, I think we're done for the day. Head on home and get into the seal."**_

"_I take it you have something important to tell me?"_ Akane only ever asked him to come into the seal if she had something important to talk to him about.

Her simply _**"yes"**_ confirmed his thoughts.

"Alright!" Naruto shouted, getting the attention of his Kage Bunshin. "It's time to head out, begin dispelling yourselves in groups of five every five minutes!" he had learned from experience that if he had them dispel all at once it would knock him out cold from an overload of information. "When there are only three of your left, place all of the scrolls back into the House!"

"OSSU!" The clones saluted and began dispelling. In the meantime Naruto made his way back to his apartment, having discussed with Akane the benefits of keeping appearances by living in his apartment as opposed to the Namikaze House hold.

Entering his apartment Naruto took a quick shower before laying down on his bed and entering the seal.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"So what did you want to talk to me about Akane-chan? Akane-chan?" Naruto frowned as he looked around and saw that the red head wasn't there. Frowning he began to walk around in an effort to search for her.<p>

As he was walking through the forest, a sound caught his attention. He stopped and listened for a moment, straining his ears to hear the noise, he soon discovered that it was singing. Well, more like humming, since there were no words to the song. He listened for a moment, thinking it was easily the most beautiful sound he had ever heard when he realized that the only two people in the seal were him and Akane.

"I didn't know Akane could sing so well," he mumbled to himself, "Then again, I've always thought she had a beautiful voice."

He shook his head and ran towards the clearing where he heard her, "Hey Akane-chan, you said you wanted to… wanted to… wanted…" Naruto tailed off and felt his eyes widen to epic proportions as he saw a sight that most men, and possibly many women, would die for.

Akane was currently bathing in one of the lakes that he had made within his mindscape, this one had a large waterfall, which she was currently standing next to. Completely naked.

Her light tan skin was glistening in the light as droplets of water ran down her perfect, unblemished and tantalizing skin, running over every curve and contour of her gorgeous body, which was far too perfect to be human. She currently had her back slightly turned to Naruto, presenting him with a three-quarters view, just enough for the swell of her right breast to be in perfect sight of him; and the water where she was standing only reached to a little higher then mid-thigh, allowing her perfectly tight ass to be seen for all, or at least, to be seen for Naruto. Her nine tales that were sticking out of her back where the tailbone was, were also cleaning her, rubbing against different parts of her body and adding a sense of erotica to the scene. Her eyes were currently closed as she continued to hum, lifting her hands and rubbing some water on them, so she didn't notice the blond who was currently gawking at her.

Naruto, who had yet to understand the mechanics behind what makes males and females different, beyond the obvious differences in shape, was being given a prime view of what a perfect woman was today. Having no idea about the birds and the bees, and still being too young to really understand the sexuality and sensuality of what he was seeing, he was unable to cope with the sight of a nude Akane. Because of this, Naruto's mind shut down, his eyes glazed over and he blacked out while somehow remaining in an upright position.

Finished with her bath Akane sighed in relief, ever since Naruto had created this mindscape things had been much easier for her, it helped greatly that she could not only take some time to wash herself while being surrounded by nature, but that she could also feel the grass when she walked on it, or the water she was currently bathing in. It wasn't quite as nice as being in the real world, but it was good enough that she would be eternally grateful to Naruto for making this for her.

_**Maybe I should give him a "special" thanks,**_ she thought with a giggle, right before she sighed. _**If only he weren't so young. **_Turning around she opened her eyes and blinked in surprise as she saw Naruto, eyes completely glazed over and mouth ajar, standing not but a few feet from the lake.

She blushed a bit as she realized that she had taken too long, obviously she should have taken a bath quicker, rather than luxuriate in the water. She felt embarrassed at being seen by the eight year old boy.

However that soon gave way to her slightly mischievous side as she stalked up to him and, gently swaying her hips as she stood not but a foot in front of him. **"Like what you see Na-ru-to-kun?"** she asked, modulating her voice in a way that would send any man into an orgasm or die from the most intense nose bleed ever. She frowned when she got no response and looked to see Naruto, eyes stilled glazed over, it was only now that she was up close that she could see he wasn't looking at her so much as through her.

"**Naruto," **she said, leaning down so she could look into his eyes. **"Are you ok? Hey, Naruto!" **when she got no response Akane poked him in the forehead, and watched in shock as he simply fell over. "**Huh? I guess his mind simply wasn't ready to see me like this."** She sighed, **"then again he is still a little boy. Still this is going put a bit of a damper on my plans, and now I'm going to have to teach him about sex."**

Channeling some Youki into the air around her, she created a standard red Kimono with a slit that ran up the side. She picked up Naruto, who by now had gone limp and sat herself down against a tree and than placed Naruto's head on her lap. She began to play with his hair as she waited for the young boy to wake up, absently wondering how he would react when he did.

She didn't have to wait long as Naruto eyes soon fluttered a bit before blinking the light out of them. **"Welcome back to the land of the living Naruto-kun,"** Akane gave him a foxy grin, **"did you enjoy the view?"**

"View?" Naruto slurred, still slightly out of it. It was then that he was inundated with images of finding Akane bathing. He shot up off of her faster than Minato Namikaze ever could, his face burning red with embarrassment as he bowed to her, "I'm so, so sorry Akane-chan! I had no idea you were – I mean – I knew you were here – since you live here – but I didn't – you know – that I was –it was just –"

"**It's ok Naruto-kun," **she said, halting his stuttered attempts at an apology. **"I'm not mad, this was my fault, I called you into the seal and took too long with my bath. I should have realized the time."**

"O-oh, well…" Naruto trailed off, unsure what to say.

Akane sighed and patted the spot beside her, "**why don't you sit down. It's a little early, but it would be best to get this lesson out of the way now that you've seen me in such a compromising position."**

"Erm… what conversation is that?" asked Naruto, still embarrassed about what had happened.

Akane took a deep breath before she began explaining everything she knew about sex, sexual reproduction, romance between a man and woman and the differences between the two genders. Having lived for a thousand years, Akane knew a lot about sex, even though she herself was actually a virgin. The entire conversation took up several hours, and by the time she was done Naruto couldn't even look at her without his face turning a shade of red that put Akane's hair color to shame.

She sighed, realizing her chance at getting Naruto his first kill would have to wait for now. There was no way he could deal with combat while in this situation, **"why don't you head on out of the seal and get some sleep. We'll continue training tomorrow, ok?"**

"R-right," Naruto stuttered, disappearing from the seal as quick as he could. It was the first time he felt the need to get away from Akane, and the red head couldn't help but sigh as she wondered what their relationship would be like now.

"**I guess I'll just have to find out later,"** she mumbled as she decided to get some rest herself.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Another month past and since that night where Naruto learned far more about woman and sex then anyone his age ever should, things had been tense between him and Akane since then. The young blond still barely found himself capable of even looking the young (looking) woman in the eye without blushing. Ever since that night he had had several vivid dreams filled with Akane in various situations like the one he had seen her naked, only he had also been involved. Dreams of an older version of himself and Akane doing acts that he was unprepared to do himself.<p>

Even worse, Naruto had found himself discreetly looking at the women of Konoha whenever he walked through the village. It took a concerted effort on his part to keep himself from looking, and even then, it usually failed and he found himself comparing these women to the one that currently resided in his mind. He was starting to wonder if there may be something wrong with him, he had yet to even reach puberty and here he was staring at and comparing women's looks.

Akane wasn't helping the situation either, sometimes she was just as bad as Naruto, unable to look him in the eye, or even speak to him. At other times she was extremely playful, teasing him beyond all reason with comments laced in innuendo, or even the occasional time where she would bend over and present him with a perfect view of her tight derriere or her ample cleavage. Naruto wasn't sure what to do, his body was unable to respond to these sensual acts, but his mind was far more developed then his body.

A fact that was actually proven true during one of the few times Naruto and Akane actually had a peaceful moment where they didn't feel awkward around each other.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>Flashback…<em>

_Naruto had just finished getting his ass kicked by Akane, lasting nearly two hours against the vixen in their spar. It was something he had noticed that she did, the red head never let a spar go past two hours. She would fight just well enough to be slightly better than Naruto, then when the two hour mark was up she would end it quicker than Naruto could say Kyuubi._

"_**Good job, your improvement is astounding," **__Akane said in genuine admiration. Naruto just groaned as he pushed himself off the ground, wondering what hit him. "__**It will feel different when you fight in your real body, since sparring here in this seal only helps you learn the stances. You will need to begin practicing your katas outside of the seal in order to ensure that your movements are ingrained in your muscle memory."**_

"_Right," Naruto said, standing up and wobbling over to a lake. He looked at his body to see his clothes in ruins, while he was covered in sweat and bruises. He absently wondered how everything that happened in the seal could feel so real, despite this being nothing more than a representation of his mind._

_Shrugging the thoughts off Naruto knelt down and began to wash his face off, splashing the water onto his face and rubbing vigorously. As he was doing that Naruto got a good look at his reflection on the waters surface. "Akane-chan," he said with a small frown._

"_**Yes?"**__ asked Akane, walking over to him._

"_How come I look older in my reflection then I do in real life?" his reflection in the water looked older than he did. He would have to say he looked around eleven years old, rather than his eight years of age. He had never gotten to see himself in the seal before, but he knew that when he looked in the mirrors at his apartment he didn't look like this._

"_**Oh, right, sorry I forgot to mention that this would happen."**__ When Naruto looked up at her, Akane continued to explain, __**"As I said before, this area we are currently residing in is called your mindscape, it is a mixture between a representation of the seal and your mind, which is my theory on **__**why you can change it. The body you possess within this mindscape is not your real body, it is a representation of yourself." **__She stopped talking as she saw Naruto frown in thought, knowing he would get it, he was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for._

"_So… I look older, because my mind is older than my body?"_

"_**Something like that yes," **__she said, __**"though that's simplifying things. you are a lot more intelligent and mature than any of the other kids your age. I suspect that the more you learn, and experience, the older your mental image gets. After all, age is more about life experiences then the number of years lived."**_

"_That makes sense," Naruto said, looking back into the reflection of the lake with a thoughtful look on his face._

_Flashback end…_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Naruto-kun,"<strong>_ Akane said as Naruto finished his last taijutsu kata. They had decided that he would work on his taijutsu outside of the seal as well as inside, so while his clones were working on whatever task he had given them, he was working on ingraining his fighting style into muscle memory.

"_Yes, Akane-chan?"_ asked Naruto, it had taken the entire month for him to start calling her that again, and even now, after all this time, he still blushed when he said her name.

Thankfully Akane couldn't see it since she was inside the seal and could only see what he saw. _**"I believe it's time we begin working on the task I had been about to assign to you…before the incident."**_

Naruto blushed at remembering what she was talking about, _"what is it?"_

He heard the red head take a deep breath within his mind, _**"Naruto, I believe it's time you got your first kill."**_

* * *

><p><strong>Here we are, the next chapter is bound to be exciting. At least, I think it will be.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I am officially holding myself for ransom until Kishimoto decides to hand over the rights to Naruto. If he does not then I cannot guarantee my safety.**

**Chapter 6: First kill**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em>W-what?"<em> Naruto asked, shock evident in his voice. _"You want me to kill someone?"_ He knew as a shinobi he would eventually have to kill, if not in an assassination than in self-defense at least. But he had not expected to kill until "after" he became a shinobi.

"_**Naruto-kun, you're going to be a shinobi**_**," **she said as gently as possible,there was no way to truly sugar coat this. _**"As a shinobi, your village will eventually call upon you to kill. Unfortunately, there is no true way to prepare you to take another person's life, except for doing the deed yourself."**_

"_B-but why do you want me to kill now?" _truth be told, the thought of killing someone else terrified him.

"_**Because I think it would be better if you were to get this out of the way now, rather than wait until you're on an important mission. Most humans freeze up during their first kill, and that can easily get you and your team killed."**_

"_So you want me to kill someone in a controlled environment?"_ asked Naruto, trying to understand what she wanted.

"_**As controlled as possible at least,"**_Akane said with a shrug. _**"This way, if necessary, I can take control of your body if you freeze up and go somewhere safe."**_

"_I – I see your point,"_ he said at last. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, this was something he knew he would deal with eventually. _"Ok, how will we do this?"_

"_**We'll leave tonight…"**_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was later in the night and Naruto was getting dressed in an outfit that no one in the village would ever suspect he had. Basic ninja gear similar to that of the Anbu, sturdy black cargo pants, a black sleeveless shirt, two black armbands, black shinobi sandals, a black face mask that covered half his face from the nose down and all of his neck, black gloves and matte black shin and wrist guards. He had gotten them two months ago by using Akane's chakra to shape shift, a demonic ability to literally transform into someone else, to turn into a different person and buy them from on the higher quality shinobi stores.<p>

There were two kunai holsters strapped to his thighs, one on the left and another on the right. On the back was another holster, only this one was holding a basic sealing scroll. Strapped across his back was a ninja-to, a short sword with a straight blade and square Tsuba, it was the standard ninja sword that most Anbu used. He had grabbed it from his parents' house since he felt it may prove useful.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu," Naruto muttered as he put his fingers into a ram sign. A single clone phased into existence, without a puff of smoke to show it had been created. It was a testament to how well Naruto could control his vast reserves of chakra.

_**Ready Naruto-kun?"**_ asked Akane.

Naruto placed his hands on the clones shoulder, _"ready?"_ he felt Akane begin to pour her youki into the clone to reinforce it. The pair had learned early on that if they did this, not only would the clone last longer, but it could actually take a few hits before being dispersed. It had proven incredibly useful for sparring.

"_**I've given it about one tail's worth, so it should last for a month give or take a few days,"**_Akane said. _**"It shouldn't take that long for you to find a bandit camp of some kind, they are usually scattered all throughout Hi No Kuni."**_

"_Right, I guess it's time to get going then."_ Naruto made his way outside and closed the door, then took to the roofs where he began to jump towards the north gate. When he got there, it was to see two chunin guarding the gates.

He wondered what the best way to get past them would be. He had to be unnoticed, it wouldn't do for the Hokage to be alerted that he was leaving the village. Despite being mass hated, he was still a Jinchūrikki and the Hokage and his ninja knew that he acted like a large deterrent. Something along the lines of fuck with us and we'll let our demon loose on you. Or something like that.

It only took a moment for him to come up with a plan, using his perfect chakra control to create a kage bunshin without any extra chakra being expelled to alert the chunin. Already knowing the plan the clone leapt down to the street and used the standard henge to turn into a crimson furred fox. Normally he would have used Akane's shape shifting abilities, but since they were only chunin had deemed it a waist as they were unlikely to be able to tell when someone was using a henge. That was mostly a jonin skill.

The clone revealed itself to the chunin, who the moment they looked at it got angry looks on their faces and began to chase the fox who yipped and ran away. _"Idiots,"_ Naruto shook his head at the display of stupidity and hatred they had shone as he dropped down from the building. He channeled a minuscule amount of chakra to his feet, in order to cushion his fall and ensure that he dropped to the ground silently. It was times like these he was thankful for Akane grinding him on his chakra control, as he made his way into the alley and looked out.

There was no one around him, sending a mild pulse of chakra out in an expanded radius of fifty feet he determined that there were no ninja in the area either. Naruto put on a burst of speed as he ran through the North gate, which stayed open all night in case a squad of ANBU or any of the elite ninja came in late from a mission during the night.

Naruto looked around as he sped along the road, checking his surroundings for only a moment before sending chakra to his legs. He jumped into the trees over to his left and began hopping from tree branch to tree branch.

He had to admit, as he hopped through the trees, that there was something exhilarating about being outside of the village for the first time. It didn't look all that different from being in village, with the exception that there were no buildings around him now, but it was more of the feeling of being outside of the only place he had ever known. The sudden freedom that came with knowing he could do what ever he wanted and go where ever he wanted that got him excited.

"_**Try not to get caught up in the excitement Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane chided.

"H_ehe, sorry about that,"_ Naruto said, feeling a little sheepish. _"I'm just so excited to finally be out of __the village, even if it's only for a little while."_

"_**That's ok, it's good that your excited," **_truth be told she was glad that despite all that happened to him in the past and Naruto's growing maturity, that he could still act like an excited child. _**"Just remember that your actually here for a reason. Now, I think we're far enough away from Konoha. Head ground-side and stop for now."**_

Naruto didn't question her as he dropped to the ground and waited for more instructions. _**"sit down,"**_ Akane said.

Doing as told Naruto felt the familiar red energy that was Akane's Youki coming from the seal in his stomach. _"What are you doing?"_ he couldn't help but ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"_**I'm sensing,"**_ she said. Before he could ask what she meant, Akane asked a question of her own, _**"Have you never wondered why I am the strongest of the nine Bijuu?"**_

"_Well, not really no,"_ Naruto shrugged his shoulders as he saw the red youki engulf his entire frame. It was fascinating to watch as he saw the Youki form into the outline of a fox, complete with ears on the top of his head and a swishing fox tail behind it. The energy looked almost alive.

"_**That's probably for the best,"**_Akane mused, _**"I doubt you would have figured it out. The reason I am the most powerful of the nine is actually very simple in its complexity. Unlike the other Bijuu, who rely on their own reserves, my Youki comes from nature itself."**_

"_Nature itself? What do you mean, like you draw energy from nature or something?" _the demoness' statement was slightly confusing to Naruto, who had never heard of something like this.

"_**Precisely. All life exudes energy, from the lowest plant to the highest life form on this earth, even humans are constantly expelling this energy. This energy is called natural energy and I have the ability to gather it into myself and use that energy to fill my own reserves of Youki, which on their own are far larger than any other Bijuu in existence anyways. This gives me unlimited power."**_

Akane paused for a moment before continuing, _**"because of this I also have several innate abilities that no other Bijuu has. I am so in tune with the natural energy of the world that I can sense everything around me and differentiate just what it is I'm sensing. Humans, exude a much different energy from plants and even other animals. Or I suppose a more accurate thing to say, would be that they exude more energy than other animals."**_

"_So you're trying to sense something using this ability?" _asked Naruto. He was rather in awe of Akane's talent, being able to sense everything in your presence would be very useful and was far more impressive than what he had dubbed the chakra sonar. Which was very limited in it's capacity to detect people and objects around him.

"_**I'm trying to find the nearest town. Hi No Kuni is filled with human settlements, and bandits often like to set up their camp near the smaller civilian population centers, less chances of the authorities catching them that way."**_

"_I see…"_ Naruto said before remaining silent and letting Akane do her work. He simply sat there and watched as the red Youki moved and writhed with a life of its own.

It was an hour later that Akane spoke up, _**"I found one."**_

"_Which way?"_

"_**North by north-east."**_

Naruto stood up and was about to being traveling in that direction when Akane stopped him. _**"We've done enough travel for today Naruto-kun, I want you to set up camp and get some rest. You can **__**begin moving out tomorrow morning."**_

"_Right,"_ Naruto said, feeling slightly embarrassed at being corrected on something as basic as this. He reached into the holster behind him and pulled out a scroll, unraveling it on the ground before he channeled some chakra into it. The scroll had several basic amenities, a sleeping bag and several detection seal tags that were used by the elite jonin of the village during solo missions. He created several kage bunshin and gave each of them a tag, making them move fifty feet away from the camp in an eight point circle, where they placed the tags and activated them. Naruto felt the seal they were connected to activate on his arm, a sign that they were working and would alert him if anyone breached them.

Now that he was feeling safe Naruto crawled into his sleeping back and drifted into a light sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was around twelve o' clock the next day when Naruto arrived at the small town Akane had sensed. Small being something of an understatement when you compared this settlement with a village such as Konoha. The entire village held only a few dozen houses, an inn and three stores that looked like a grocery store, a clothing store and a small eatery. All together the place was very quaint.<p>

Before entering the town Naruto had used a standard henge jutsu to turn himself into an eighteen year old civilian male with short brown and steel-grey eyes. The last thing he needed was for someone to wonder what an eight year old child was doing running around in shinobi clothing with a sword on his back.

"_**Head into the inn,"**_ Akane instructed as Naruto was looking around the town, _**"that's usually a prime source of information in small towns like this. You'll want to rent a room, we don't know how long we'll be here and it would look suspicious if you spent all day around the inn for several days without renting a room out."**_

"_Got'cha,"_ Naruto replied and did as told. Entering the inn the current brown haired Naruto looked around to see that it was about as quaint on the inside as the town was on the outside. Right in front of the door was a front desk where a homely looking woman with the kind of friendly smile that would put just about anyone at ease was standing. Off to the left was a staircase that likely led to the rooms, and on the other side was a bar with several tables where a cute girl, who judging from her looks, was the daughter of the woman at the front desk was serving the few people who were sitting around at the tables.

"Hello, can I help you?" asked the woman as Naruto walked up to the desk.

"Yes, I would like to rent a room for a few nights," Naruto said, "I'm not sure how long I'll be staying but it will be at least two or three days at most."

"Very well, two nights will cost one hundred ryu, all meals except breakfast cost extra," she told him. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, he was thankful that his parents had left quite a bit of money in their bedroom, nearly ten thousand ryu, since he knew that he would be unable to even pay this much thanks to the civilians of Konoha if they hadn't. He handed the money over and the woman smiled as she gave him a set of keys, "thank you, sir. Your room will be the first door on the right. Please enjoy your stay."

"Thank you," Naruto smiled at the woman, reveling in the feeling of someone actually smiling at him. It was the first time anyone other than Akane or the old Hokage had done such a thing.

Walking up stairs Naruto placed the key in the door she had specified, opened it, and walked in. the room wasn't that big, even though it was a tad bigger than his own bedroom in his apartment. But it had a nice cozy feel to it, with a soft looking bed, a nightstand next to it, a dresser on the other side and a small armoire on the other side of the room. There wasn't much else other than a window that overlooked the town and a small door to his left that no doubt led to a restroom, but Naruto didn't need much.

Dropping his henge Naruto unstrapped his sword, took it off and placed it on his bed before stripping off the rest of his clothes and heading over to the door to his left. His suspicions about the room behind the door being a bathroom were confirmed when he opened it and walked in, it contained a toilet, small sink and a small shower. Turning on the water Naruto stepped into the shower, just standing in the water as it began to slowly heat up. After luxuriating in the hot water, something he never got in Konoha thanks to the old crone who owned the apartment he lived in cutting off his heating, and cleaning himself off he went back into his room and put his clothes back on.

"_So how should I begin?" _asked Naruto as he sat down on his bed.

"_**Start by going down to the bar and getting something to eat,"**_ Akane suggested. _**"Keep your ears open, people normally tend to talk without realizing that others might be listening in. We'll do this, along with exploring a few miles outside of town each day, and if we have no luck we'll go to another town."**_

Naruto nodded in understanding as he stood up and walked out of the room and down into the bar.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Back in Konoha clone Naruto watched with a grin as several people ran out of an expensive looking restaurant. This particular establishment was owned by a man called Onikawa Nowato, a wealthy man and one of the few people who rivaled the chain of Akamichi owned restaurants and barbeque's.<p>

He also happened to be one of the people who Naruto had found out was particularly spiteful towards him, thanks to some snooping around after being kicked out of this particular restaurant.

The night before Naruto had mapped the place out and determined which sewer it was connected to, then he had used a special seal that when activated would create the most horrific stench imaginable. On top of that, he had found a way to create another smell that would attract a large amount of cockroaches and placed both seals on a time delay. All he had to do after that was find a nice place to sit back and watched the fireworks.

"That'll serve that fat slob not to mess with Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said with a snicker.

"Is that so?" asked an amused voice from behind.

Naruto turned around to see his watcher, Itachi Uchiha, dressed in his Anbu garb standing next to him on the tree branch with his arms crossed. "Hey Itachi-nii-san," the blond grinned as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "to Ojisan then?"

Itachi shook his head and Naruto could tell from knowing the Uchiha better than most that he was amused, "what are we going to do with you?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>It was several days later that Naruto ended up leaving the small town, having not found any evidence of bandits being in the area. Apparently, the place was simply so insignificant and had nothing of real value that bandits simply never bothered with it.<p>

Naruto, who was now dressed as a middle aged man with graying hair and a beard, spent several more days traveling to the next village, this one being quite a bit bigger than the one he had been in previously. It still wasn't quite as large as Konoha, but from what Naruto knew of the maps he had studied the only places that were of a similar size was the capital of Hi No Kuni and a gambling town with a large castle called Tanzaku Gai.

When he got to the town Naruto found one of the many inns that littered it and decided to explore the area, that way he could get a feel for the town as well as have some fun exploring a place he had never been to before.

The town was actually fairly nice, with an actual cobblestone streets rather than dirt roads and littered with people talking and shopping, the place was definitely more lively than the previous town he had been in.

Naruto walked around as he looked at all of the shops, stands and people that milled about. He tried some of the local cuisine, fried calamari on a stick with some kind of spicy dipping sauce. It was pretty good and he enjoyed munching on it before deciding to head back to his inn.

He sat down in one of the booths, waiting for the slightly harried looking waitress to come over to him so he could order some food.

"Hey, did you hear? There's been another attack?"

Naruto ears perked up as he heard the whispered conversation behind him, channeling some chakra to his ears he listened in.

"There's been another one? Was it one of the merchant Caravans that came in?"

"Yeah, I heard they got attacked, barely made it out alive. Not only that, but it appears one of the men's eldest daughter was kidnapped."

"That's why you never take your family when you travel or you higher ninja…"

"_Akane-chan?"_ Naruto said as he ignored the rest of the conversation.

Akane, who had been listening in as well, already knew what he was going to ask and said, _**"There are two ways to proceed. The first is to find this Caravan and get information out of them, the second is to just ask around town and see what you can find."**_

"_What's the best option?"_

"_**I would ask around town,"**_ Akane said after several moment to think about it. _**"Finding the caravan could prove difficult given the number of inns and shops in this city, and you're likely to find information on them anyways. If you find out where their staying first you can go to them, but if not I would just gather what information you can about the bandits themselves."**_

Going on that sound advice Naruto began to search for information. He used several transformations, turning into different people so that no one would know who he was or suspect that there was one person looking for a group of bandits. He didn't find out as much as he would like, but he did get a general direction of where all of the raids had taken place. He also found out the little fact that these raids were happening because the town, while large, wasn't large enough to bother stationing a samurai post and because the raids only happened to passing caravans and travelers, no one had sent a mission request to Konoha.

Naruto waited until it was late at night before going out, he was out of his henge and had climbed out of the window, using chakra to stick to wall as he ran onto the roof. Heading South the young blond shinobi in training jumped across the rooftops and made his way into the forest. Once he got there he knew that the hard part had come, he only had a general direction of where all the attacks had taken place, the South Road that led to one of the more populated cities. But he had no clue exactly where the base was located.

When he found the road Naruto created a dozen Kage Bunshin and sent them in several directions with orders to dispel as soon as they found the bandit camp. It took half an hour before one of his clones dispelled, and another fifteen minutes before Naruto was able to look through the memory to memorize where the clone had gone. Once his destination was known and mapped out he set off.

It didn't take that long to find the camp, he could easily spot it in the dark thanks to the fire they had going. Obviously they had been doing this for so long without repercussion that they felt safe having a fire going at night. That or they were just stupid and had gotten lucky so far.

There were currently four people in front of the fire, ugly, dirty and if his enhanced sense of smell was anything to go by, unwashed thugs that were currently laughing and drinking. Naruto couldn't see how many other there were and quickly made another kage bunshin and henged it into a mouse that he sent into the camp. He was going to wait until he had received enough information to launch an attack and take out the base when something happened that made his blood turn cold.

A loud voice, gruff and obviously male screamed, before that same voice shouted, "YOU STUPID BITCH!" Then another scream, this time female sounded out, before there was the sound of something hitting the floor or some solid object, and then all went silent.

"Aw jeez" one of the men said as he heard the scream. "I hope the boss didn't kill her."

"Yeah, I would like to have a go at the pretty little thing."

Hearing these words and the other bandits stating their agreements Naruto's blood began to boil. How dare these people act so callously towards human life! Wanting to teach these men a lesson and make sure the woman he heard was alright, the blond swooped down from the tree branch to begin his attack.

He appeared behind one of the bandits by the fire. His sword was out before conscious thought, there was a flash of light, and Naruto watched as the head of the bandit he had gotten behind rolled along the floor while the body squirted blood out of its neck and dropped.

Naruto froze, shock permeated his face that as only seen by the widening of his eyes.

"What the hell!" one of the bandits shouted.

"He killed Kain!"

Naruto, still wide eyed, looked up to see the rest of the bandits by the fire descending on him. it was only thanks to his sparring with Akane that Naruto reacted, dodging a slice from one of the swords, deflecting another one on pure instinct alone. As the last weapon, a hammer, came at him Naruto jumped over the person there and pulled a shuriken out of his pouch. Flicking his wrist like he did when practicing and sending the weapon sailing into the back of the man's head.

The other men seemed to freeze at this and Naruto capitulated on that, coming in hard and piercing one of the men through the stomach. Before that man had the chance to topple over, the young blond had pulled his sword out and blocked the slice from the only man left. Naruto could see the look of fear in the mans eyes at seeing how easy the blond had killed his comrades.

In less time than it took the bandit to blink, Naruto had locked their swords together, pulled out a kunai and threw it into the man's throat. Naruto watched as the man clawed at his throat, blood leaking down as a gurgle escaped his lips. He fell to the ground, twitching several times before he laid still.

_I… I killed them,_ Naruto thought to himself, his eyes just as wide now as they had been the entire battle. He dropped his sword due to the shock he felt, _I killed them all… it was so easy…_

Akane realized that Naruto was going into shock and quickly tried to bring him out of it, _**"Naruto-kun! You don't have time for this right now, there is one more left!"**_

"_Akane, I killed them… it was like stepping on ants… it was so easy…"_

"_**Damn it!"**_ Akane said as she tried to pull Naruto's mind back in. _**"Naruto-kun, none of this is your fault, these people were evil! They –"**_

"Now this is odd," a voice spoke up behind Naruto, causing the blond to turn his head as he spied a large man with a thick building and a bald head. "I had wondered what that noise was, and look at what I found. A little ninja." The man looked at Naruto and snorted, "well it's a little soon but I have to thank you for killing them for me. Those men were beginning to get on my nerves, always asking for more, more, more. As a reward, I'll kill you quickly."

_This guy… he didn't care that his comrades were killed, _Naruto thought in shock as the large man raised a very big axes. _They didn't even matter to him… what kind of man doesn't care for the people who work with him? This man… he's a monster!_

Naruto watched as the axe descended against him in slow motion, his entire body tensed and he felt a deep welling of some primal power in the pit of his stomach. As if watching from the eyes of another person, Naruto saw his body crouch low to the ground. His hands entered a position that looked like they were gripping something, even though there was nothing there, and he swung his arms.

Only his hands were not as empty as they seemed.

Blue chakra began to coalesce in his hand, so thick it looked solid, it crackled and sizzled, and as the blonds swing came closer to the man it formed a blade that sliced through the large bandits abdomen. The large man lurched, blood pouring out of his mouth, and Naruto had to jumped away as the top half of the man's body fell away from the bottom, showing he had been split cleanly in two.

It only took a minute of staring before Naruto fell down onto his hands and knees, throwing up what was left of his dinner. For several minutes Naruto continued vomiting his food, until there was nothing left, then there was another five minutes of dry heaving as his body tried to purge itself of something that wasn't there.

"_A-Akane…"_

"_**I'm here Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane's voice chimed softly in his head. She could hear the distress in his voice, and knew that now was not the time for him to wallow in guilt. _**"You need to keep it together right now Naruto, check the tents and make sure there isn't anything of value and see if that girl who we heard is alive or dead. Then you need to destroyed the bodies, cremation is the best way and I'll help you with that. I know it's hard Naruto, but you can't let it get to you right now."**_

"_R… right,"_ Naruto stood up, though it took several seconds before he could move because his legs were shaking. When he could finally move the young blond went up to the tent where the large man had come out of, and almost began dry-heaving again at the sight that greeted him.

There, lying on the table was likely the merchants daughter. She was dead, that much was obvious from the fact that she was not breathing or moving. She was also completely naked, spread eagle on the table with bruises and slash marks covering her body as well as a growing pool of blood under her head that was beginning to slowly drip of the side of the table. Having learned the birds and bees from Akane he knew enough to know that the girl had just been raped, the cum leaking out of her was a testament to that. Seeing and knowing this was almost enough to make him sick again but he did his best to keep himself from throwing up.

Naruto took a tentative step forward; he wanted to look away from this sight, but for some reason he found himself unable to do so. The girl, who couldn't be older then sixteen, had light brown hair that looked fairly long and soft green eyes. She was obviously very pretty, and likely the reason the bandits had taken her.

Naruto felt tears begin to well in his eyes, _no one deserves this, especially not someone so innocent…_

"_**I agree,"**_ in all truth Akane was pissed. There were few things in this world that she detested above all else, people who use others for their own gain, people who refuse to do anything for themselves, arrogance, whiners, and rapists, not particularly in that order. _**"Naruto, make some clones and have them search the tents for anything of value, we also need to take care of the bodies and give this girl a proper burial."**_

"_Ok," _somehow, someway Naruto found the will to do as told. He made five kage bunshins, one that began to check this tent for anything of value, two that went over to the other two tents, one that began to pile the bodies of the dead bandits together, and the last one that Naruto made to find a place to dig a grave.

Naruto himself walked over to the table and gently placed hand over the girls face, closing her eyes; he looked around for a moment before laying eyes on the bed sheets. He ripped the sheets and spread them out on the ground, after which he gently lifted up the girl and laid her down on it, he was about to straighten her limbs when he frowned. He didn't want her to be buried like this, with blood leaking from her wounds and the cum of that monster running down her legs. Looking around the blond found a rag, grabbed it and used a small Suiton (Water Release) jutsu to make it wet. It didn't take that long to dress her wounds and clean her up, then he straightened her limbs, making her look as dignified as possible before wrapping the sheets around her form. Lifting the girl back up he walked outside and found a spot to set her while he went to work on the other tasks that needed to be done.

All of the loot that the bandits had stolen was put in a pile that Naruto sorted through, there was some money, which Naruto put in his wallet since he had no way of knowing who it belonged to, several goods like paintings and metal work that he sealed into scrolls until he could decide what to do with them. The object that stood out the most was a small necklace, it was locket and when opened the inside it showed a picture of the girl who had just been killed with what could only be her family, a man with dark brown hair, a women who looked like an older version of the girl, and a little boy was holding the girls hand. He quickly sucked up his tears and closed the locket, turning it over where he saw the name Carla written on it. He had a feeling that was the name of the girl.

Naruto pocketed the necklace and once all of the loot was sealed he had Akane use her Kistune Bi, a powerful fox fire that the demoness had created to cremate the remains of the bandits. After that the clones began to dismantle the camp, it was standard ninja procedure to leave no trace of what happened.

Meanwhile the other clone that had been digging the grave had dispelled, letting the blond know it was done. He picked the girl up again and moved over to the grave.

It was small, about five feet six inches long, one foot wide and two feet deep. Naruto knelt down and gently placed her in the grave, where he then began to cover it up by hand. It took several hours, by the time he was done the sun was beginning to rise and his feelings had been numbed.

"_**Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane said in a soft voice, grabbing the young boys attention. _**"When you go back to your room come into the seal."**_

"_Kay."_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>As soon as Naruto reentered his room he sat on the bed and entered the seal. When he opened his eyes Akane was already standing before him, she didn't say anything, just opened her arms.<p>

Arms which Naruto ran into as he began to sob, nothing was said between the two as the immortal demoness held onto her container. She sat down, taking Naruto with her as she held his head to her chest. She didn't care about how much time they spent like that, or that he was beginning to soak her kimono with his tears, all that mattered was Naruto needed her.

"Is it wrong that I'm pleased those men are gone?" asked Naruto, his voice a haggard whisper as his tears finally dried up.

"**No, it's not,"** Akane said in a comforting voice. **"Those men were horrible, some of the vilest kind of people alive. They killed other people, innocent people for their own gained, raped and killed an innocent young girl, and I can assure you that this is not the first time they had done so. It's only right to be glad men like that are no longer in this world."**

"I feel like a monster," Naruto whispered, "like I committed some horrible sin, I was looking at my hands when I came in the room and it was like I could see the blood on them."

"**You're not a monster," **Akane assured him, running her hand through his hair in an attempt to sooth his soul. **"You're a young man who just killed several corrupt, evil men who needed to be brought to justice. Had you not killed them, those men would have continued to strike at passing travelers, they would have found, raped and killed more young women. Because of you, they can no longer do that, and those women, who may have been killed and raped because of them are safe."**

The young boy, who, through experience and trial by fire could no longer truly be considered a child, paused, and looked up at the woman who was currently holding him. "It hurts, knowing I've taken a life, even ones like those bandits. And yet at the same time, I'm glad their dead. Does that make sense?"

"**Of course it does, the fact that it hurts shows that you have a good heart, that you can feel pain by killing, even when the people you kill are evil says that you're a good person." **She brought Naruto's head back and rested her own head on top of his, **"it's only when you no longer feel that pain that you become a monster. When you feel nothing for those you kill that you will be better off putting up your sword."**

"So I'm not a monster?" asked Naruto in a hopeful voice.

"**No, you're not,"** Akane lifted his head up very slightly and planted a linger kiss on his forehead.

Naruto looked at her for several seconds before resting his head against her again, "Can I stay with you tonight?"

Akane smiled as she said, **"you can always stay with me, if that's what you want."**

For the first time since Naruto had killed those bandits in the clearing a small smile came to his face as he felt asleep, still being held in the arms of the woman who he knew would always be there for him.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The next morning Naruto woke up, feeling better, he was a little numb and the pain of killing and the girls death still hurt. But thanks to Akane he didn't feel as bad as before.<p>

As he looked around the room his eyes caught a glint of light near his side. Looking down he saw the blade that had formed in his hand last night lying next to him. He frowned as he picked up the sword and examined it.

The sword was a daito, a Japanese long sword that had a twenty seven inch blade. The middle ridge of the blade, or the shinogi, was near the center of the blade and had a narrow profile, otherwise known as Shinobi-hikushi; the point was done in the Kissaki style, with a curved profile, and smooth three-dimensional curvature across the surface towards the edge; the blade was a dark black that seemed to suck in all light, while the edge was pure silver. At the bottom of the blade, near the tsuba was a depiction of a golden wolf howling.

The cross-guard had four prongs bent out to form the shape of the manji (Kanji for full). The grip was covered in black crisscrossing lace with gold flecks. Finishing the sword off was a short length of chain with a broken link at the end that dangled from the base of the hilt.

The entire blade was unlike anything he had ever seen, and he couldn't help but wonder where he got it.

"_**We'll figure that out when we get home,"**_ Akane said, interrupting his musings. _**"Maybe there will be some knowledge of this in the kenjutsu section of your library. For now though, we should see if that caravan is still here so you can return that locket you found and let the girls family know that her death has been avenged."**_

"_Right."_ Naruto got up and managed to take a quick shower before going downstairs for breakfast, or lunch, since it was mid-day by now.

He spent the next hour or so doing what he had done the last time that he had looked for information, when he had been trying to find the bandit camp. It didn't take that long for Naruto to find out that the caravan that had been attacked two days before he had gotten there, was currently staying at a hotel called _Taia Truite (Tired Trout) _and were selling the wears they had managed to escape with at a shop called _Juurai _Kire (Traditional Pawn).

Figuring he would have the best chance of finding them would be at the store Naruto, in his middle aged man henge, entered the small shop. He didn't pay much attention to the interior, beyond noticing the nick naks that were on the shelves in no real form of order or fashion, letting him know the place was a pawn shop.

There was only one person there, and it wasn't any of the people he was looking for. It was an old man with shock white hair done in a top knot haircut, he had squinted eyes and a long beard and mustache. Seeing as he was the only one around Naruto walked up to him, "Excuse me?"

"Hmm… yes? Can I help you find something young man?" asked the aging man.

"Not exactly, but you can help me find someone," Naruto said as he gave the old man a description of the people he had seen in the locket. "I had heard that they were selling there wears here," the blond finished as the old man stroked his beard in thought.

"Hmm… I think I remember seeing them yesterday," the old man said slowly, "yes, that's right. They came yesterday and sold me some of the items they have, I don't know where they are now though."

_Damn,_ Naruto thought, _hopefully there still at their hotel._

"Thank you for your help," Naruto said with a bow. If the old man replied the blond didn't hear it since Naruto was out of the door less then a second later. He made his way down the street and walked inside the _Taia Truite_, stepping up to the front desk where a pretty woman in her early twenties was standing. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a man in his mid-forties with dark brown hair and gray eyes, he would be with a woman with brown hair and brown eyes and a little boy."

The woman manning the desk looked at him for a second before tapping her chin in thought, "you know, I think I remember those people you're talking about. I'm pretty sure they left some time this morning," she opened a small book on the desk and flipped through it, "yep, they checked out this morning.

Naruto resisted the urge to swear, even while he bowed and thanked the woman for her time. _**"What are you going to do now?"**_ asked Akane as the blond left the hotel.

"_There's nothing I can do,"_ Naruto said with a frown. _"If they left this morning than that means they have a four to six hour head start on me, even if I use kage bunshin I don't know if I'll find them." _He reached into his pocket and pulled out the locket, looking at it for a minute before sighing. _"I'll hold on to this and give it to them if I ever manage to find them during my travels or after I become a shinobi."_

"_**That's probably a good idea, you need to get back to Konoha anyways."**_

"_Which is why we're heading back now, which way is Konoha?"_

"**South East."**

"_Right, off we go then."_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Another month had passed and summer was only days from ending. During that time Naruto's determination grew and with the help of Akane, he doubled the amount of Kage Bunshin he could summon for his training.<p>

His training was going well, Naruto had around fifty clones all working on fuiinjutsu. He had one of them read for half an hour and then dispel, giving the other clones the knowledge on the next step or whatever seal the clone was reading about so they could work. Another clone would take the place of the previous clone and the process would soon repeat himself. He was still only in the basic stages of learning Fuiinjutsu, but Akane told him that he was very much a prodigy and would likely be better than the most prominent seal master in a few years' time.

His elemental training, while not progressing like his fuiinjutsu skills, was still going strong. Because Naruto was keeping his training a secret, he was unable to do the next step in wind manipulation, cutting a waterfall in half with his chakra. However, he had decided to learn the first step for his fire manipulation training, blowing out a stream of fire through his mouth. So far he could only blow out puffs of fire but he was sure that he would complete it within the next week. He had around one hundred clones working on this.

Taijutsu was going the same as usual, because he had to learn taijutsu on his own for the most part, he wasn't learning it as fast as his other practices. Akane helped when she could, but there was only so much they could do in his mindscape. They had found a small way around that, partially at least. By having Naruto spar against a Youki enhanced Kage Bunshin, and having more clones surrounding them when they fought. Afterwords, all the clones would dispel and Naruto and Akane could review the spar through the memories of his clones, allowing them to pick out his flaws and correct them.

Another form of training Naruto had added to his sparing regime was kenjutsu. The blond had had his clones search his mom and dads library for any information they could find on a good kenjutsu style and the Uzumaki clan in general.

Their search had turned up two things, a scroll of a kenjutsu style known as Issei No Ryuuken (Dragons Cry Sword Style). It was a style that had been made specifically by the Uzumaki clan, which at one point had been one of the most feared clans within the elemental nations. It was the reason the clan had been destroyed, the Uzumaki clan had been so feared for their prowess with a blade that Kirigakure (Village Hidden in the Mist), Kumogakure (Village hidden in the Clouds), and Iwakgakure (Village Hidden in the Rocks) had made a combined effort to wipe them out during the Third Great War.

The three Great Nations had attacked the Uzumaki Village, Uzushiogakure No Sato (The Village Hidden in the Whirlpools) and wiped them out. Even then, it had taken two months for the Uzumaki clan to be defeated, and the combined forces of the three Great Nations, which had outnumbered the small clan ten to one, had been reduced by half.

The Issei No Ryuuken sword style was one that was created specifically with the Uzumaki clan in mind. It was a style that was said to bring out the essence of the dragon, a legendary creature that was said to be one of the most powerful mythical beasts in existence, during combat. The style was a combination of speed and ferocious power and the scrolls stated that one who had mastered this style was able to cut through boulders and the strongest steel with relative ease. The style had been created by the Uzumaki clan in order to work with their bloodline.

The bloodline was called Hitokage No Yaiba (Soul Blade) and was technically considered a chakra based bloodline. This was because the sword that every Uzumaki used was one specifically made from their chakra. Each sword of an Uzumaki Clan member was unique, and vastly different from any other. Naruto had found some of his mother's notes, and knew that her blade had been a traditional Ninja-to but could be absorbed into her body, where she would then shoot chakra chains from her back. No two Uzumaki blades were alike, and each blade held their own special abilities, their own powers, making the Uzumaki clan's bloodline one of the most coveted bloodlines in the world.

That was why the Style the Uzumaki clan had created had no sword dances; it relied on basic movement and stances, the true power came from the physical prowess required to use the style. Uzumaki clan members trained their bodies extensively to move at speeds no normal human, even a jonin-level ninja, was capable of accomplishing, something their bodies were uniquely suited for to complement their bloodline.

Through many hours of meditation Naruto had discovered that his blade was called Hikage Ookami (Wolf of Light and Shadows) and was a blade of contradictions. The black that his blade was made of represented the hardships, the darkness, that was in his life. Yet the edge of the blade was a bright silver, and seemed to glow with light, representing his will to not give into the darkness.

The secret techniques that the blade held, all of which were known as Uzumaki Hijutsu Kenjutsu (Uzumaki Secret Sword Techniques) were Hiton (Light Release) and Yamiton (Dark Release) and allowed him to wield light and darkness based chakra techniques, something that Akane had told him was unheard of as those two techniques were supposed to belong to the gods Kami and Yami respectively.

Right now Naruto could not use any of the techniques for his sword, even with the knowledge of how to use them his body was unable to handle the strain of doing so. It would likely take several years of training before he could use any of Hikage Ookami's techniques.

"_**Keep going Naruto-kun, you only have one more hour of this and then you can take a break,"**_Akane said as Naruto continued his kenjutsu training, while standing upside down on the ceiling.

Currently, Naruto was practicing with a bokken, a wooden sword that was roughly the same length as his sword. Along the length of the wooden blade was a long string of seals that increased the blades weight so that he could train the speed at which he swung his sword. His shirt was off, having long since been discarded, showing off not only the muscles he had gained from three years of intense physical training, muscles that no child his age should have, but also the many seals that adorned his body.

Along his arms, back, chest, stomach and legs, were what looked like black chains. This was a seal that he had found in his father's personal notes on sealing called Teikou Fuiin (Resistance Seals). The seals were designed to increase the resistance of body movement by constantly constricting all of the muscles found in the human body and forcing them to contract against each other. This forced the person using the seals to constantly strain against their own muscles in order to move, increasing both the strength and speed of the user's movement. The amount of resistance from the seal was relative to the amount of chakra used, though the seal only had one hundred levels.

It was an extremely dangerous seal to use, Minato's notes had said that it should only be used one hour a day. Thankfully, Naruto had Akane and thus, the debilitating effects of using the seal were negated, allowing him to use it as long as he wanted.

Currently Naruto was at level ten, when he had first started using the seal it had been relatively easy, the first few levels felt a little like he was under water. At first the blond had wanted to just increase the seal to a level that was actually difficult to move in, but Akane had told him not to, saying that it was better to have completely mastered each level, that way his tai and kenjutsu form wouldn't become sloppy. After all, there was no use training to be faster and stronger, if you lost all sense of coordination while in combat.

The way Akane had him use the seal was that he would work on perfecting each kata for his tai and kenjutsu forms while the seal was active, performing them at the same speed he could without the seals while maintaining perfect form. Then he would rework his form without the seals to make sure he could fight without the seals restricting his movements perfectly. Only after that would he move to the next level. It was highly effective and thanks to Akane it was made doubly so, allowing him to train twice as much in half the time.

Despite feeling the strain of every single one of his muscles contracting against each other, and the sweat that was soaking his body, Naruto kept his breathing perfectly even and controlled as he moved through his katas. He didn't even acknowledge Akane's words as he focused completely on his movements, ingraining them into his very being.

"_**Ok, that's enough for today Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane said, _**"go back to your apartment and get cleaned up. Then come into the seal, I have something I want to teach you."**_

Naruto moved out of his stance and into an upright position. He held a hand over a small circle in the center of his solar plexus where all of the chains of his seal met. Channeling his chakra into the seal, the ring glowed a bright blue for a moment before fading, likewise the chains faded and disappeared, making it impossible to know they were even there. _"Alright,"_ he said as he stopped channeling chakra to his feet and dropped to the floor below, flipping half-way and cushioning his fall with chakra.

Right next to him a kage bunshin phased into existence and dispelled itself the next second, letting the clones that were in the dojo practicing elemental manipulation and jutsu, and the other clones that were in the library reading know that it was time to dispel. Meanwhile, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated, light blue chakra surrounded him before his form rippled and in his place stood a shorter, orange clad version of himself. "Time to head home,"he said as he moved towards the door.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>After getting washed Naruto found himself in the seal. Akane was already waiting for him, a small, fanged smirk adorning her face.<p>

"What's up, Akane-chan," he said, sitting down next to her.

Akane's smirk grew bigger, "**I've been thinking about our situation, and how going to school will hamper the amount of time you have to train. Therefore, I am going to teach you a powerful clone technique that is only known to myself."**

Naruto raised both eyebrows, then an excited grin made its way onto his face. "Have I ever told you I love you?" he asked.

Despite herself Akane blushed, she knew the words were said jokingly but she couldn't help but think that maybe he really did feel something for her. After all, they had gotten very close in the past few years, especially recently with everything that happened to the blond.

_**Damn it! Stop thinking about this! **_She scolded herself, _**even if something happens he's too young right now! I need to be patient.**_

Taking a deep breath to calm her raging mind and admittedly perverted thoughts of her and an older Naruto, Akane gave him her own teasing grin. **"I would hope you love me after all we've been through together and all of the **_**situations**_ **we've been in,"** she said, emphasizing the word situation.

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush as he thought of how the vixen before him would tease him with her body. It was tough because even though his mind was far older than his physical body, he still hadn't hit puberty yet and didn't get the typical teenage response, despite his mind giving him erotic images. "S-so, what was it you wanted to teach me?" he coughed, trying to get back on track.

Akane grinned at her victory, **"it is a very powerful clone technique, as I said. With this… jutsu, for lack of a better word, you will be able to make a clone that will not only contain one third of your chakra, but will not dispel in a single, or even multiple hits. It will have all of your abilities and act just like you, in fact, the only difference between this clone and you is that it cannot regain lost chakra and will dispel when its chakra is gone."**

"So your saying you can give me a clone jutsu that not only acts like me but can also take a massive beating?" asked Naruto, getting a nod. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"**Because the requirement to use this, aside from a massive amount of chakra, is two gallons worth of blood,"** Akane said with a shrug.

"O-oh," Naruto said, looking a little pale. He shook his head and gained a determined look, "so what is this clone jutsu?"

Akane gave him a fanged grin, **"I call it, Chishio Bunshin (Blood Clone)."**

* * *

><p><strong>There we go, this chapters kind of graphic but I wanted to show just how...evil, for lack of a better word, the shinobi world is. Killing, death and rape are common in this world, even more so than our own and I wanted Naruto to learn that before he became a shinobi.<strong>

**Also, I read a review from xNamikazeKyuubix asking me if I read the reviews, the answer is yes, I do. The reason I am updating this story so quickly is because I had this amazing burst of awesome and wrote these chapters down in like two hours after receiving the awesome. This is simply how I normally write, I'll get an idea and it will continue my writing until I run out of awesome, the thirty two chapters of Shift In Life was like a Mega Burst of awesome and I wrote all that in just under a week. However I do read all reviews.**

**Speaking of reviews, I want opinions on what Naruto's summoning animal should be. It has to be something that is not as well known. I'm thinking either Hydra, Dragons, Sea Serpant (Think Liviathan from Final Fantasy), or even Ookami, but I'm not sure. Please give me your opinions.**

**Well, its been fun, but I gotta run.**

**Ja ne!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto there is no way in hell I would be writing fanfiction. I would be a million heir and have several houses located throughout the world. Instead, I have to share an apartment with three other people while I go to college.**

**Chapter 7: Academy Days pt. 2**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was the start of a new year at the shinobi academy. Naruto, clad in his orange monstrosity and with a large grin on his chibified whiskered face, ignored the glares and scowls sent his way as he ran towards the academy. When he got to the room with the number of his classroom on it he slammed the door open and walked in.<p>

Several of the other students who were already inside looked over to see who had made such a loud entrance, several of those people became blinded by the bright orange jumpsuit the blond was wearing, and more than a few wondered if Naruto wasn't color blind. Why else would he wear such a hideous bright color?

Naruto ignored all of this as he kept his grin on, walking towards an empty seat in the back where he could observe the class. He sat down and spent the rest of the time keeping his idiot-grin-façade up while discreetly looking at any and all of the noteworthy students in the classroom. Out of all twenty-six students besides himself, Naruto saw seven that stood out the most.

Seated over the front-left hand corner of the room with a bored look on his face was a kid that could pass off as a younger Itachi. He had raven black hair that was spiked at the back and oddly enough, reminded the blond of a ducks ass. He was wearing white shorts, blue shinobi sandals and a blue Uchiha style shirt with his clan crest on the back. Currently, he was looking out of the window while all of the girls in the class gave him a dreamy stare.

_Must be Sasuke, Itachi-nii-sans younger brother,_ Naruto thought, remembering a few times Itachi had told him about his brother when he took Naruto out for ramen.

In the middle row on the right were two more that caught his attention. A tall kid with fairly long jet black hair tied in a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes that had a lazy half lidded expression to them. His attire was rather plain, consisting of a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved grey jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back with a circle with a line through it, brown pants, and blue sandals.

_Definitely a Nara,_ Naruto frowned in thought as he brought up the information he knew on the Nara clan. _If I had to guess, I'd say it's the son of the current clan head Shikaku, if he's anything like the notes on Shikaku that my old man left than he'll be the purest definition of lazy genius._

_"**I remember them," **_Akane piped in, **_"even when they had first joined Konoha that clan was the laziest bunch of people I had ever seen. They make the Sanbi appear hard work, and that damn turtle is the laziest son of a bitch I ever knew." _**Naruto snorted in laughter at her comment, causing several people to look at him. He ignored them and continued his observations.

Next to the Nara was what could only be an Akimichi. The kid was very large, a necessity for the Akamichi due to their clan techniques, and had brown hair, and swirl marks on his cheeks. He wore brown shorts, a rather long white scarf, a short-sleeved green jacket over a white shirt with the kanji for "food" (食, _shoku_) on it, ring earrings, and his legs and forearms were wrapped in bandages.

_If the Nara is the son of Shikaku, I'll go on a limb and say that this kid is the heir for the Akamichi clan._

A little ways away from the two clan heirs was a girl that caught his attention. The girls most noticeable trait in her appearance were her blue eyes and her long blonde hair, which was currently cut shoulder length and had two short bangs framing her face. Her attire consisted of a short purple vest like shirt with a raised collar, a skirt that was cut off on the sides and bandages on her stomach and legs. She also wore purple and white elbow warmers with this. She was obviously a member of the Yamanak clan, the only other people in Konoha with blond hair and blue eyes like himself. He had to wonder about why someone who was only eight years old would wear clothing that revealed so much skin.

_It's not like she has anything to show off,_ thought Naruto, his mind straying to Akane. Before a blush could make its way to his face he continued his survelaince of the room.

Several seats from Naruto himself was a brown haired kid who had a wild appearance to him, giving him some traits that were akin to an animal. He had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that looked slightly clawed. He also had the distinct red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks. _Tsume's kid,_ Naruto decided with certainty, remembering the few times he had seen the woman around the village. She was one of the few people that was actually nice to him.

His attire consisted of dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat. On top of his head sat a small white puppy that only confirmed the boys Inuzuka heritage in Naruto's mind.

Another to catch his attention was a girl with dark blue hair, fair skin and white eyes, with a tinge of lavender. The eyes were completely pupiless, meaning she belonged to the Hyuuga clan, one of the most prominent clans in Konoha and the rivals of the Uchiha clan.

Her hair was in a hime-cut style, with chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants. Naruto was kind of amused to see that the girl looked completely intimidated by everyone around her, as evidenced by how she seemed to be trying to hide in her jacket. That, or she was just attempting to do her best impression of a turtle.

The last person to really catch his attention was the boy sitting right next to him. This kid had dark bushy brown hair, pale skin, and seemed to be the tallest kid in class, besides himself when he was out of his transformation. His clothing consisted of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar and a hood that was currently brought up to hide most of himself from the class. Naruto heard a light buzzing coming from him and assumed he was an Aburame, a clan that utilized bugs to fight.

The only other person that was caught his attention was a girl with bright pink hair and an abnormally large forehead. Cause I mean really, what kind of shinobi had pink hair?

The door opened and two people walked in, the two chunin instructors Naruto assumed. The first was a man with brown hair that was kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar across the bridge of his nose. He was wearing the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals and flak jacket.

The other was a man with white, shoulder length hair was in a bandana style forehead protector and the standard Konoha shinobi outfit.

"Alright class settle down," the brown haired man said. The class seemed to quiet down, eagerly awaiting their introduction into the shinobi world. "My name is Iruka Umino and this is my assistant Mizuke," Mizuki seemed to scowl slightly at the mans words but only Naruto caught it, "I would like to welcome all of you to the start of your first year in the Shinobi Academy. Each one of you is here because they wish to serve and protect Konoha as a ninja, and we will do our best to insure that you all become the best ninja you can be!"

Many of the students seemed to smile at this.

"Now, when I call your name I want you to come up to the front and introduce yourself by telling us what your reasons are for being a shinobi. Aburame, Shino!" One by one the students were called, Naruto ignored all but eight of them. The seven clan heirs, all of whom were from the most prominent bloodline clans of Konoha and the pink haired girl who he felt might prove useful in keeping with appearances.

_It seems like this is going to be an interesting class with so many prominent clan members in it,_ Naruto thought to himself.

"…Uzumaki… Naruto…"

Naruto looked up and saw the look of hatred on both Mizuki's face, and the look of distaste on Iruka's. _this is going to be a long four years,_ the blond figured as he walked down to the front.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" the blond shouted with his wide grin, "AND I'M GOING TO BECOME THE GREATEST HOKAGE SO THAT PEOPLE WILL LOOK UP TO ME AND RESPECT ME! DETTEBAYO!"

His proclamation was met with several minutes of stunned silence before the entire class started laughing uproarisly.

_Yep, definitely a long four years,_ Naruto held in a sigh as he went back up to his seat, _I wonder how the boss is doing?_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Hey Naruto-kun?"<strong>_ Akane said as Naruto continued going through the Katas of the Kitsuneken taijutsu style. Two years filled with long hours of practice had insured that Naruto now had the movements down by muscle memory, all he had to do now was work out the kinks and improve his physical fitness.

"_Yeah?" _asked Naruto with a grunt as he flew through a particular fast Kata where he struck his imaginary opponent with lightning fast knife-edged jabs to where the floating ribs would be located. Moving back out he jumped in the air and spun around and did a heel kick that would have hit his now disabled opponent in the neck. Landing back on the ground he continued his katas.

"_**I was thinking, with how much traveling you're going to be doing it may be a good idea to find a way to earn money."**_

"_I was thinking about that too, ten thousand yen is quite a bit of money, but it won't last forever." _Naruto paused as he made several kicking combinations, switching from his left to his right foot all the while spinning on the balls of which ever foot he was standing on at that given moment. _"I was thinking of selling my seals, not only do I have a lot of seal designs but most of the seals that I found at the ninja stores were complete crap."_

Akane listened with no small amount of amusement as Naruto went on a rant about the terrible quality of the seal paper, ink and the seals themselves. _"The paper they use is completely shoddy, what with all the creases the paper has, not to mention the poor quality of it. The ink has absolutely no special properties and tends to fade within a year and don't even get me started on the seals themselves, it's like a fucking child drew them!"_

The red head decided not to mention that technically, Naruto was considered a child. Instead just listening to him talk about something he obviously held a passion for, even if she had no clue what he was talking about.

"_**I have nothing against you selling your seals, that can actually be a pretty lucrative business since very few people can make them." **_Akane paused, _**"Of course, you should keep all of your more powerful seals to yourself, that way they don't get into the hands of someone who may be inclined to use them against you. Also, we'll need to find a way to protect your seals so no one else can copy them before we sell your customized ones."**_

"_That's why I'm going to start hiding my seals into specific designs, like the Uzumaki clan symbol," _Naruto told her. It was common practice for a seal master to hide his seals within something, like the _Shiki Fujin _(Dead Demon Consuming Seal) on his stomach that was in the design of the Uzumaki clan symbol.

"_**That's a good idea, I would suggest making some more clones to get to work on that right now so you can begin making money soon."**_

Having already been thinking along the same lines of the vixen Naruto created fifty more clones with orders to begin finding a way to disguise his seals. Half an hour later Naruto ended his taijutsu kata and walked over to where he had set down his towel, picking it up and wiping the sweat off his body.

"_**Alright, on the ceiling, it's time for your kenjutsu training."**_

Naruto sighed as he grabbed his bokken and did as told, it was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Alright class!" Iruka called out he finished his lecture on the Shodaime Hokage, a boring lecture on the man's Mokuton (Wood Release) jutsu and how he founded the village, at least it was boring in Naruto's opinion. "I want all of you to head outside to the training logs with Mizuki, it's time to begin target practice!"<p>

The class all scrambled out of their seats excitedly, Naruto included as they ran outside. They met Mizuki who looked at all of them, scowling at Naruto before he began giving instructions on what to do. "When I call your name I want you to take these kunai and throw them at the training post," he said, looking down at his clipboard, "Aburame, Shino!"

One by one they all went up, most did terribly, very few kids hit the log, most of their throws going wide. Though there were a few lucky hits. The ones who did good were the clan heirs, well most of them. Shino, Kiba and Sasuke all did well enough, with Shino getting nine out of ten, Kiba getting seven out of ten and Sasuke getting all ten, even deciding to show off by throwing them all at once, much to the excitement of his fangirls.

Ino, Choji, Hinata and Shikimaru, however, did not do as good. Ino got three out of ten, not only was her aim completely off but her throws were weak; Choji got five out of ten, which wasn't bad and he had strength behind his throws, but lacked accuracy; Hinata's hand was shaking so hard that she only managed to get two out of ten, and left with her head in her jacket to hide her embarrassment; and Shikkimaru didn't even try, claiming it was too troublesome and ended up getting a zero out ten.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Mizuki said, and only Naruto caught the light growl in his voice, it made the blond wonder why this man hated him so much.

"Hey! Hey Sakura-chan! Watch how awesome I am!" Naruto shouted to the pink haired girl, Sakura Haruno, a girl who was wearing a red qipao dress with white circular designs, with or without sleeves, tight dark green shorts. After the first two months of the new year, Naruto had decided to use this girl to keep up with appearances, acting like he had a crush on her.

"SHUT UP NARUTO NO BAKA!" Sakura shouted as her face turned the same color as her hair. She shook her fist at him in a violent manner, something she always did when he was not close enough to hit. The girl was one of Sasuke's biggest fan girls, along with Ino Yamanaka who Naruto felt was a disappointment to her clan due to how she seemed more concerned with Sasuke then being a better ninja. Because the pink haired girl was a civilian and extremely violent she was the perfect cover for Naruto's idiot persona.

Naruto walked up to where Mizuki was and took the kunai from him, absently noting that they were so dull even if he hit the target they were unlikely to stick, unless he used chakra to strengthen his throws. Not that it mattered since he wasn't trying to hit the targets.

Pretending to take careful aim with each kunai the blond, orange clad genin missed each one. Everyone around him laughed and began to make fun of him, since even the civilian children got at least one. Naruto pretended to get angry at how all the kids were laughing, and moved back into the crowd.

The class soon went back inside where Iruka began another lecture. Naruto sighed, _Kami I hate the boss! I wish he were here instead of me._

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>The months passed by in a blur for Naruto as he continued his training, increasing the number of clones he could make from two hundred to three hundred. Once again this increase in kage bunshin also produced a remarkable increase in the amount of jutsu he learned. He was very proud of his accomplishments and couldn't wait until the day that he could show everyone how truly powerful he was.<p>

He had also finally finished working on his seal designs, having decided to hide them within a symbol he had made himself. The symbol was essentially the Uzumaki Clan symbol, except that it was done in a way that looked like the swirl was made of a fox tail. The tail was subtle enough that people would likely never realize what kind of animal it was, even if they bothered to actually look at the seal when they ised it.

Now, all he had to do was find a store that he could sell his seals from.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>A young man who looked to be around eighteen years old with spiky red hair that had two jaw length bangs framing his face and a spiky fringe that covered his forehead was walking down one of the many streets of Konoha. He had dark, purple eyes, a rarity in any country and was fairly tall, standing at six foot five and had an athletic build that spoke of long hours of training. He was wearing what looked like Ronin Samurai clothing; a traditional dark blue kimono with a pair of black Hakama style pants underneath. His footwear consisted of tabi socks and Waraji sandals.<p>

He was very handsome, with a chiseled face that held a roguish charm to it. In fact, if one were to look at his general face shape and hair style, they would almost assume he was the Yondaime Hokage, were it not for the red hair and purple eyes.

The smile he wore made several of the women near him swoon, causing the men around him to scowl. Not that he was paying any attention to the people around him. The young man was too busy spending time looking at all of the stores, trying to find a good store to sell his wears to notice the drooling looks the women were giving him or the scathing scowls the men were sending.

"Let's see _Kinsei's Hoisoi Heiki_ (Kinsei's Fine Weapons), nope. _Shinobi Chuuou (Shinobi Central), _a bunch of assholes that I ain't helping," the young man sighed. "Geez, there doesn't seem to be any shinobi stores around here that I want to sell my seals to. Oh, what's this?"

He had stopped in front of a nondescript building, with the only decoration being a kunai and the titles Higurashi's weapon shop on top of the entrance. Curious, the young man entered the shop.

Looking around the first thing the young man noticed was that the place was easily a shinobi's wet dream, lined all around the walls and on several stands in the store were some of the most beautiful and well-crafted weapons he had ever seen. Everything from axes and lances, to ninja-to's, he even saw a few broad swords that were said to have been imported from the east many years ago during the Second Great Ninja War. The place was obviously a store that took their job to supply ninja with the proper tool seriously.

"Can I help you?"

Turning the red haired young man was soon staring at a bull of man. Large and built like brick shit house. The man had muscles on every part of his body that the red head could see; he even had muscles on his muscles! He had dark, spiky brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing an off white shirt, brown pants and a pair of brown boots.

"Maybe," the young red head said with an easy going grin. "I was actually here because I saw your store and was hoping that the two of us may be able to enter a partnership for mutual benefit."

Oh?" the large man said with interest.

The red head nodded, "this is a beautiful store, and I've noticed that all of the weapons you have are top quality, as well as your shinobi clothing and armor. However, I was wondering if you sold seals? And if so, how good they are."

"You make seals?" asked the large man, sounding both curious and interested.

The red head smirked, "yep, I've been traveling the elemental nations learning what I can about the art of Fuiinjutsu. I've been hoping to find a place to sell my seals, but very few stores here seem to really know good quality when they see it."

"There are a lot of stores that sell cheap equipment," the large man agreed. A moment later he stuck out his hand, "Kaizuki Higurashi."

The red head took the offered hand in a firm hand shake and smiled, "Arashi Kazama."

Kaizuki nodded, "I take it you have your seals with you?" Arashi nodded, "then follow me to the back, show me what you have and if I like your stuff, then we can cut a deal."

"Kaizuki-san, I like the way you think."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>It was nearly two hours later that Arashi left the Higirashi weapons shop, both him and Kaizuki being satisfied with the deal they had cut. The large weapons store owner had been very impressed with the quality of Arashi's seals, which as far as he could tell were near flawless. It took a while but in the end they had both settled on an agreement each could work with.<p>

Arashi would supply Kaizuki's store with all of the standard seals, and any new seals he came up with would go exclusively to the Higirashi weapons store. In return, Kaizuki had offered the man the better end of the bargain, giving Arashi a sixty percent cut of the prophet on all the seals sold. It had originally been fifty-fifty, but after Arashi mentioned that he was also using his own custom made paper and ink, both of which were costly to make, the man had given him the better offer, knowing that if the red head went to another store it may decrease his own sails.

As he closed and locked the door to the hotel that he had rented out, Arashi gave a loud yawn while stretching his hands above his head.

"_**Long day?"**_

Arashi snorted at the voice before a ripple spread across his skin, his hair went from red to gold, his eyes from purple to blue, he shrunk down to a height of four feet six inches and his clothing changed to all black shinobi clothing.

"_It was definitely different than a standard day, that's for sure,"_ Naruto said as he looked around the nice hotel room. He moved towards the kitchen where he began looking into the fridge to see if there was anything good to eat, not finding much he sighed, and decided he would use his Arashi persona and go out and get something to eat a little later. For now, he would just go into the seal and spend some time with Akane.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"We must strike now Hiruzen!" stated an old frail looking man, who had one hand holding onto a cane. He had black shaggy hair, and his right eye was kept bandaged. He had an x-shaped scar on his chin, a scar that had been given to him during his youth. He wore a white shirt, with a brown robe over top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder. The robe conceals his right arm which was bandaged, and covered with three big golden braces.<p>

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave an exasperated sigh at his old friend, "we can still work on negotiations with them, Danzo. Why are you so adamant about killing members of our own village when all this can be avoided without the need for senseless bloodshed."

Danzo nearly scowled at the man he had once called friend, ever since Sarutobi became the Hokage he had become jealous of the man who he felt was to weak to be a good Hokage, clinging to the ideals of peace that the Sho and Nidaime Hokage's had also clung to. He couldn't help but think that if he were Hokage, none of the problems they had now would be an issue.

Known as an old "war Hawk" Danzo was an extremist who preferred to directly eliminate threats through assassination and execution rather than diplomacy and negotiation. He possessed a fanatical adherence to the ideals of a shinobi, believing they must sacrifice absolutely everything for the village.

"You've been talking with them for nearly four months now Sarutobi," he said, resisting the urge to scowl as he had to keep his reputation of being emotionless up. "How long will it take you to realize that Fugaku is not interested in talking?"

For the past four months the Uchiha clan had been behaving suspiciously, there shinobi were acting weary and secretive. In fact, ever since the Kyuubi attack things with the Uchiha clan had been tense, most people remembered that Madara Uchiha had tried to use the Kyuubi as a weapon, summoning the beast and attempting to use his eyes to control it when he had battled Hasharima Senju, the Shodaime Hokage. No one really knew how the battle went, only that Hasharima had won but later died from his lingering injuries after the Second Shinobi War had started. However, many people remember the tales of Madara summoning the Kyuubi and people wondered if he could summon it, perhaps the rest of the Uchiha Clan could as well, making the people weary and suspicious of them.

Since the attack nearly nine years ago things had been getting progressively worse, it had even gotten to the point where Sarutobi had his most trusted Anbu, young Itachi, spy on his own family. What the child prodigy had found was disturbing.

"Hiruzen, I know you dislike bloodshed, especially in our own village," Koharu, an old lady who had her hair pulled back in a twin bun locked by a traditional Japanese hair pin with two pearls dangling off the side and tassels that were added at the end. She wore a simple long kimono, closed by an obi, a jacket, and a sash over it. She had squinting eyes that were barely open at any point in time. "However, the Uchiha clan is planning a coup, do you really think you can negotiate with them when they're so far along in their plans?"

Despite, or perhaps because of her old age, Kaoharu was a very assertive and strong willed woman. She held onto the belief that the group is more important than any of its individual members, which often clashed with the Third Hokage's view. Being much more militant than the Hokage she served under, the old woman tended to lean more towards Danzō's way of thinking.

"Surely even you can see that trying to settle this with peaceful negotiation is impossible," said the final member of their little group. Homura was an aging man with grey hair, a beard, glasses as well as a constant frown that he always seemed to wear, even in his youth. He also had a strong jaw-line and facial structure he managed to retain even in his old age. As a member of the Konoha Council, he wore similar garb to those that Hiruzen would when acting in his capacity as Hokage.

Homura was an authoritarian and always had the village's best interests in mind. Like Koharu, he was more militant than the Hokage he served under, and as such often leaned more toward Danzō's point of view.

Sarutobi sighed as he was triple teamed, he was unsure what to do, he disliked having to shed blood, especially the blood from members of his own village. Yet at the same time, he knew that they were nearly out of options.

"Hokage-Sama, I am willing to accomplish this task." All heads turned to Itachi Uchiha, who had been patiently standing off to the side, having been the one who had just given them this information.

"Itachi, can you really be thinking of doing something like this? Of killing your own clan?" asked Sarutobi, shock permeating his features.

Itachi closed his eyes and a small look of pain swept his features as he remembered the Third Great Ninja War. He remembered the countless lives that had been lost due to all of the pointless bloodshed, ever since he had seen war first hand, the young Uchiha had become a staunch pacifist and supporter of the Sandaime's beliefs. However, he knew that if avoiding bloodshed was not possible, than the best way to save the innocent was squash any form of violence as brutally and efficiently as possible.

Opening his eyes he looked at his Hokage, "I believe this may be the only way to avoid even more bloodshed. If the Uchiha clan succeeds in attempting this coup de taut, win or lose, Konoha will be weakened, and the other Hidden Villages will descend upon us like a plague of locusts."

"You have a point," Hiruzen gave a tired sigh, it was times like these that he truly felt his age. "Itachi Uchiha, I am giving you the mission of exterminating the Uchiha Clan before they can plan their coup de taut. You are to carry this out immediately."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama!" Itachi said with a bow before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Itachi would do as ordered, but he had one stop to make before then.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Naruto Uzumaki was woken by a loud knock on his door, grumbling he got out of bed and made his way into the living room, transforming into his chibi look as walked. Opening the door he blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he saw Itachi standing in front of him, Naruto could immediately tell something was wrong.<p>

"Are you alright Itachi-nii-san?" asked Naruto, adopting an expression of concern.

"Yes, I am fine Naruto-kun," Itachi said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "do you mind if I come in?"

"Not at all," Naruto moved out of the way so Itachi could enter his apartment. The two of them moved into the kitchen/living room, Itachi sat down on the couch while Naruto sat down on the chair. "So why are you visiting me so late at night?"

Itachi didn't answer right away, instead taking a moment to look around the room. He had been in Naruto's apartment several times now, and it never ceased to both amaze and annoy him that the blond who had become like a brother similar to Sasuke was given such a terrible, run down dump. It was the one thing he hated about Konoha. That they would treat their hero with such disrespect.

Shaking his thoughts off he looked over at Naruto, "cicumstances are going to be forcing me to leave the village soon." He saw the blond tilt his head at the cryptic remark, thankfully the blond knew better then to interupt. "Therefore, before I leave, I wanted to give you something, and I would like to make a request of you."

"Um... ok," Naruto replied, wonderig if he should ask Itachi why he was going to leave.

"First," from the front-left pocket of his flak jacket, Itachi pulled a scroll from inside and tossed it over to Naruto. "That scroll contains the knowledge of every jutsu I have ever learned, there are over five hundred in there." The raven haired soon-be-traitor smirked at the boys jaw dropped expression, "I know you are stronger than you let on Naruto-kun. The mere fact that you can evade every Anbu officer who chases after you for hours on end tells me you have more talent then you show."

"Hehe," Naruto scratched the back of his head as a sheepish smile came to his face, "I guess it was stupid to think I could fool you. Does anyone else know?"

"No," Itachi shook his head, "even the Hokage doesn't seem to know that you are much more then you appear. You are very good at hiding yourself in plain sight when you don't want people to see you."

"Thank you," Naruto said, looking at the scroll with excitement, who knew what secrets this scroll contained. "What was your request?"

"As I said before I will be leaving the village soon, and I fear that Sasuke will be in trouble," Itachi started, "you know my little brother right?"

"Yeah, my class, arrogant attitude, black eyes, black hair in the shape of a ducks ass," Naruto said absently. "I know him," the blond looked over at Itachi, "you want me to befriend him or something? You know I already tried that, right?"

Itachi winced as he remembered the days he made the suggestion that Sasuke might be a good friend for Naruto. His little brother had simply stated that their father had said the whiskered blond was nothing but a monster and that he could not be trusted, going even further to state that was clanless orphan like Naruto wasn't worth befriending. "I do apologize for that, I was hoping he would not follow in our fathers foot steps," Itachi could understand Sasuke's attitude since he desired to prove himself to their father. But he had hoped that his little brother's desire wouldn't cause him to blindly follow their father.

"That's ok, I guess," Naruto said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders, "I've gotten use to being hated by now." He got another wince from the raven haired ANBU, "Do you know why I'm hated Itachi-nii-san?"

"I..." Itachi paused, before really thinking about what he should say, he had no desire to lie to the young blond who had already suffered so much. Yet at the same time he could not disobay a direct order from the Hokage. "I am sorry Naruto-kun, while I do know why you are hated, I am afraid that I can't tell you."

"Can't? Or won't?" Naruto already knew why he was hated of course, but wanted to test Itachi since he was the only person who treated Naruto like a human besides Akane-chan, the Ichiraku's and Sarutobi. That, and he had to keep up appearances, Itachi may know he was stronger than he let on but even he didn't know how strong, or that the Kyuubi was helping him.

"Can't," Itachi said, "there is... there is a law put in place, any who speak of the reason you are hated besides yourself or the Hokage are to be sentenced to instant death."

_Fat lot of good that did,_ thought Naruto as he remembered all of the beatings he had in the past. He had seen every single one of the people he remembered beating him the next day as if they had done nothing wrong. "I suppose there's nothing to it then," deciding to move on he asked, "so what was it that you wanted me to do?"

"I want you to keep an eye on Sasuke," Itachi said, "I fear that thanks to our father he will walk the path of our ancestor and when I am gone there will be no one around to make sure he does not fall to darkness."

"Well, I don't know if I can keep him from falling," Naruto said, but quickly added, "however, I will do my best to keep him in the village."

"That's all I can ask," Itachi said, standing up. "I hope that some day we can meet again Imouto."

"Later... Itachi-nii-san," Naruto said as Itachi blurred out of existance.

"_What do you think?"_

"_**Something is going to happen tonight,"**_ Akane said, knowing what he was talking about, **_"I can feel it. I believe something bad is going to happen, and going by what Itachi is saying, it's going to happen to the Uchiha Clan." Good riddance,_** thought Akane, being careful to keep her feelings from entering the seal. She had never liked the Uchiha clan, after Madara had tried to turn her into a Slave. She hadn't put up with that of course, and was the real reason that Madara was dead.

She could tell you from personal experience that cooked Uchiha, did not taste like chicken.

"_Do you think we should see what's up?"_

"_**NO!"**_ Shouted Akane, before in a quieter voice saying, **_"Trust me, what ever is going to happen is happening because of forces beyond you. And you don't want to be around when whatever happens happens, people may try to link you to whatever went on and that would not be good."_**

"_Yeah, I guess your right," _he said slowly.

"_**Of course I am, now come into the seal. We'll find out what happened to the Uchiha clan tomorrow."**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>Like Akane had said Naruto discovered what happened to the Uchiha clan that early that morning as he was traveling on his way to school.<p>

"Did you hear? They say the Uchiha clan was massacred last night?"

"I wonder if it was the demon?"

"That's what I thought too, but apparently it was one of their own."

"Yeah, Itachi Uchiha, the ANBU prodigy."

Naruto continuously channeled chakra into his ears as he listened into every conversation on his way to the academy. Itachi Uchiha had killed the entire Uchiha Clan in one night, minus his little brother Sasuke. Naruto now knew what his brother figure meant when he said Sasuke might stray down the path of his ancestor. The boy might very well become a liability to the village or emotionally unbalanced if even half of the stories of the torture Sasuke went through were real.

Class that entire day was a subdued affair as news of the Uchiha's destruction spread, Naruto noticed that Sasuke was not in class and couldn't help but wonder what happened to him.

"_Out of all the things I could have imagined Itachi doing, I never thought he would destroy his own clan,"_ Naruto thought absently.

"_**He likely had a good reason for it," **_Itachi had been the one Uchiha that Akane had respected, the one she had ever seen that had not given into the darkness of his cursed eyes.

"_What reason could he possibly have for killing off his clan!"_ asked Naruto incredulously. He may not have liked the Uchiha clan, hell! He hated that clan. But to just kill them off was wrong.

"_**Perhaps they were going up against the Hokage. I know you don't like killing Naruto-kun, but the Uchiha Clan is a clan full of traitors, they would betray you in a heart beat if it granted them power."**_

Naruto frowned, _"you sound as if you have personal experience with them."_

"**_Oh I do,"_** Akane muttered darkly, **_"Madara-teme tried to use me in his battle with the Shodaime at the valley of the end. Idiot thought he could use his eyes to control me, *Laugh* but I showed that bastard that I am not to be reckoned with."_**

"_Wait, wait, wait, wait, are you telling me that you were at the battle between Madara and the Shodaime?"_

Akane snorted, _**"the shodaime only battled for like an hour, when Madara realized he was losing he somehow managed to summon me and then he tried to take control of me." **_Even to this day Akane still didn't know how that man had managed to summon her, she assumed it was some kind of space-time ninjutsu, but since she didn't know a whole lot about human techniques she had never been sure._** "I was the one who killed him."**_

"_Iruka-sensei would die if he learned that the Shodaime didn't kill Madara," _Naruto thought jokingly.

"_**Meh, I told him to only mention me in passing, by that time people had forgotten the truth about us Bijuu and many only wanted to use us for weapons. That, or they feared us for our power."**_

"_I guess." _Naruto was silent for a moment before curiosity got the better of him and he asked, _"so you know Madara well?"_

"_**Knew, I knew him... decently,"**_ Akane said. **_"I didn't know much about the man personally, I had only met him a few times when he came to try and convince me to side with him against Konoha. However, I do know his clan "very" well."_**

"_Really?"_

"_**Yes, after all, I'm the one who created the Uchiha clan."**_

Naruto was so shocked by her words that he fell of his chair in surprise. Getting up he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he caught the attention of several of his classmates, most just snorted and ignored him, or laughed at him however, since his reputation as a prankster and idiot was already well known it didn't bother him.

"_You created the Uchiha Clan?"_ asked Naruto once he had gotten back in his seat and managed to move through his shock.

"_**Yes," **_Akane said, seeing no reason to hide it. **_"It was around one thousand years ago that I gave the first Uchiha his Sharingan eyes, it was during one of the many wars that myself and the other Bijuu found themselves in. This war however, was far different from the one you know of as Shinobi Wars."_**

Naruto found himself fascinated by the story and had to ask, _"what made this war so different?"_

"**_Because this war was not human against human, this war was a battle of demons versus humans." _**Naruto was shocked by her answer, but kept quiet while she talked. **_"At the time demons were much more plentiful and the portals to the underworld were not closed like they are today; myself, along with the other Bijuu led the war against the demons who had threatened our lands."_**

"_Wait, aren't you and the other Bijuu demons as well?"_ asked Naruto, _"why side with humans?"_

"**_We may be demons Naruto-kun, but we are far different than the average demon."_**There was a prolonged pause before the demoness' voice was heard again, **_"my kind were created by the gods themselves, each one took on an aspect of our master, the one who created us. I was created by Inari-Sama, __the god of Foxes, therefore my demon form is that of a fox and I am gifted with a cunning intelligence and love of pranks. The nine of us were sent down here by Kami, who gave us the job of protecting her creations."_**

"_**Demons are generally formed from the souls of the damned who's hate burned so strongly they took on the form of monsters. They are not created by Kami or any other of the other gods. We were different and it was those differences and our duty to protect Kami's creations, namely humans, that made us join the humans in battle."**_

"_**However, we could not triumph alone, and though we had a large number of humans at our beck and call who fought alongside us, we were steadily being pushed back by the sheer numbers of our enemies. We realized that without more power the humans would never win, and we couldn't use our demon forms for fear of hurting those who served under us."**_

"_**It was decided then that we would choose champions for our cause, we would grant humans we felt were worthy with some form of power that would give them an edge in battle, this is actually how the first bloodlines were formed. I myself created the sharingan and gave it to a man who would go on to found the Uchiha Clan."**_

"_Wow... so then, why do you hate the Uchiha clan so much?"_

"_**You mean aside from the fact that Madara tried to use me for his own purposes?"**_ asked Akane, getting a small blush of embarrassment from Naruto. **_"I dislike the clan because of what it had become. The Uchiha clan of today is arrogant and have a sick sense of superiority, believing that they are Kami's gift to man and are the only ones fit for the right to rule. It makes me sick just thinking about how corrupted they have become."_**

"_**Aside from that..."**_ Akane's voice became far softer and held a regretful tint to it. **_"I know from your memories that it was members of the Uchiha clan who hurt you the most during your childhood."_**

"_It's ok, Akane-chan,"_ Naruto said, knowing she felt guilty for what they did. _"I don't blame you and truthfully, I couldn't care less about what happened in the past. In fact, I would thank the people who hurt me because it brought you to me."_

Akane blushed a pretty shade of pink, and was very grateful that Naruto was not in the seal with her to see it. She mumbled a "thank you" just as Iruka and Mizuki entered the door and the lesson began.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>A year soon came and went, Naruto continued to play the fool in front of everyone. After what had been dubbed the Uchiha Massacre things seemed to get even worse then before for the blond, he no longer let the Anbu catch him as he played his pranks, and had taken to using a different room in the abandoned apartment complex that he lived in because the attacks on him became more frequent.<p>

Sasuke had become even worse since that day, before he was just extremely arrogant and always loved to show off. However, ever since Itachi massacred his own clan the raven haired academy student became dark, broody and emo. He refused to talk to anybody, and the few who tried were either ignored outright, or verbally abused by the 'last loyal Uchiha' as the Konoha population had dubbed him.

It didn't help that the civilians and Konoha council started sucking up to the broody revenge driven boy, many likely only doing so in the hopes that they could convince Sasuke to marry their daughters in order to gain more power through being part of a clan. Naruto was unsure if that was the main reason for the increase in the Sasuke fan club, or if the girls in his class thought they could 'heal his wounded soul' but Naruto had overheard several of the civilian council members who had daughters in his class to try and convince them to gain favor with the Uchiha.

As for Naruto...

"_**Give me a Fuuton Jutsu!"**_

Naruto sped through several hand seals, ending on the horse seal. He took in a deep breath before spitting out a compact ball of wind. The wind ball shot forward at high speed, striking one of the many training dummies in the training field they were using. Like all jutsu the blond used, Akane made him do this one silently.

"_**A Katon Jutsu!"**_

His hands nothing more then a blur, the blond ran through the gauntlet as he ran through the seals for the jutsu he wanted to do. Taking in a deep breath Naruto blew out a large fire dragon that roared out in what sounded like rage before it charged one of the training dummies, it hit the dummy and exploded, leaving nothing more than ash in its wake.

He had continued his training, pushing himself past the limits that normal humans could go in an effort to get stronger. This year, he had gone on a total of one hundred bandit raids and had actually been forced to fight two C ranked missing-nin who Naruto had discovered had a bounty in Konoha's bingo book. He had even managed to get the bounties from the two ninja, using his alias as Arashi Kazama,a wondering swordsman with a talent for seals without anyone in Konoha being the wiser.

Even the Sandaime, who had actually given 'Arashi' the money for his first bounty had been unable to tell that it was him. Of course, unlike the henge, Naruto's transformation was actually a genuine transformation, not an illusion and because of that not even a doujutsu like the Byakugan or the Sharingan could see through it. The only people who could even tell something was off when he used it were demons, and Jinchurikki who had full control over their demons. Otherwise, it was like looking at a regular person.

And speaking of his alias, the seals that he had been making and selling had become an amazing source of income. In order to keep his cover Naruto would make Arashi while out of the village, then have him come in through the North Gate, where he was forced to fill in several forms stating his name, age, and reason for visiting. After wards, he had his business persona leave, then come back six months later in order to see how much he had made thanks to the seals he had given Kaizuki. Apparently they had been so popular that the man had run out of the seals he had been given about three months after red head left. Naruto had made a total of fifty thousand yen from his first sales.

Since then, Naruto made sure that Arashi visited every two months to bring in more seals and had given Kaizuki several of his older custom seals. Now Naruto had not only a steady income, but made more money in one month than most people did in a year.

"_**Do a Raiton Jutsu!"**_

His fingers moved in perfect synchronization as he continued to train his jutsu. When he finished, Naruto slammed his hands into the ground and a large bolt of lightning tore through the landscape as it made its way towards the last training dummy on the field. It struck gold, shooting sparks everywhere as the dummy was disintegrated.

"_**That's enough training,"**_ Akane said, letting Naruto finally slump to the ground from having done four hours of nothing more than shooting jutsu. Even someone who had more chakra than the current Hokage, launching so many jutsu non-stop, within such a short period of time, while having four hundred clones working on creating seals and what ever else he decided to have them do elsewhere was exhausting. **_"Your going to need to buy some new training dummies."_**

Naruto snorted, _"Well they are kind of fried." _All two hundred of them were completely destroyed. _"I'll send a kage bunshin to buy some tomorrow."_

"_**That's fine, we're done here for now,"**_ Akane said, **_"get cleaned up and come into the seal."_**

"_Ok." _Naruto kipped back up to his feet and stretched out. He looked around for a moment at the training ground he was now using.

His custom, training ground.

Using his Arashi alias Naruto had bought out the apartment complex he was living in, buying it from an aging man who was eager to be rid of the place since no one wanted to live near the demon. With no one else living their Naruto had taken one of the rooms on the first floor as his own, letting his Chishio Bunshin use his to keep up appearances.

Naruto's entire apartment room was more along the lines of a mansion sized flat. There were several different sections to the apartment, the training room, the bedroom, the bathroom, living room, kitchen, swimming pool, and the library/study. Unlike most apartments however, this one had no real walls that separated one section of the house from another, only a stair case that led to where the bed and bathroom was separated from the rest of the house.

The section Naruto had just left was the training room, only called that for lack of a better word since no other words could not really apply and that was what he used it for. It was basically just a large expanse of gravel and grass, with one section that held a lot of trees and another that held several bodies of shallow water, the deepest only going about five feet down. It was the largest section of his house and it was here that Naruto practiced his nin, tai and kenjutsu.

The kitchen was just that, a kitchen with stainless steel tops and brand new appliances. Having learned to eat healthy thanks to Akane, the whiskered blond had gained a fondness for cooking and thus, spared no expense as he bought himself all of the newest appliances.

Likewise, the living room was more or less a large carpeted space with several leather sofas and couches, a coffee table and several potted plants to give the room something extra. There wasn't much to the place, and Naruto rarely ever spent time there.

His swimming pool, was more akin to a lake with a waterfall. It was about about sixty square feet and a had a large water fall much like the one in his mindscape. The water was continuously being recycled as it went up to the fall through pipes where the water was super heated into steam and purified, before coming down the water fall as fresh spring water. There was a bridge that ran over the waterfall and it was there that Naruto managed to complete the second step of wind nature manipulation training.

His library, which was essentially the Namikaze library that he had just transported from his father's house consisted of several large book cases filled with the near one thousand scrolls and books that Minato and Kushina had gathered when they were alive. It was near the back of his flat, opposite the training ground and had a large redwood desk so it could double as a study.

The last section of the flat was the bedroom and bathroom, which were only separated by a very thin wall for modesty, as if he really needed it since no one came here. The bedroom held a large king sized bed with soft crimson colored sheets and several large pillows; a large walk in closet, the one thing that was actually in an enclosed space, a dresser, night-stand and lamp post; while the bathroom had a large jacuzzi stye tub with two shower heads on either side,a toilet and a sink.

The entire apartment room had taken several months to build, not just because Naruto had to have Akane cast a powerful kitsune illusion that she had woven over the building to make people think it 'wasn't' the apartment complex belonging to the Kyuubi brat, that way they wouldn't get suspicious when several dozen clones of himself in various henge's came in to work on the building. Another reason was because of the seals that went into expanding the interior of his room.

During his study in seals Naruto had begun to modify seals in order to suit his purpose at an early stage in his education. One of the seals he created was the expansion seal, taking the concept of the sealing scroll, which created a pocket dimension within a piece of paper and pushing that concept several steps further by creating a pocket space within another space. The apartment that Naruto was currently living in had a total of twelve of these expansion seals, located around the four corners of the first and second floor, and then again in the new corners of the expanded space of the first floor, making the entire flat large enough to hold a decent sized mansion.

Finishing up his shower Naruto spent the rest of the night in the seal, spending time with the woman who had done more for him than any other being alive. With summer coming up she had decided to take it easy on him and give him a rest, telling him more stories of her past and some of the battles she had been in before the Bijuu were feared.

* * *

><p><strong>There you go, another chapter. You know, its kind of interesting because I actually made all these chapters in a three hour time period. I'm telling you, its like my mind is overflowing with ideas, not as much as when I wrote Shift in Life, but still more than usual. Maybe its the lack of sleep...hmmm.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I am sure your all tired of hearing this, but I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 8: Summer Challenges**

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><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>it was mid day in Konoha when two people bearing the forehead protector of Kirigakure No Sato entered the village. That in itself likely would have been considered odd, considering the rumors about the civil war currently happening in Kiri, but it was how much the two contrasted that ended up catching more attention.<p>

The person up front was a woman, she looked to be in her mid twenties and had a slender build. She had ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs were short, with one covering her right eye, and two were long, crossing each other on her chest, just below her chin. Her eyes were a light green.

She was dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue dress that fell down just below the knees. It was closed at the front with a zip, and was kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts. Underneath, she was wearing a mesh shirt that covered more of her upper body than her dress, but stopped just short of covering her shoulders and still left a sizable amount of cleavage. She also wore shorts in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings that reached down over her knees. Around her waist, she had on a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left.

Polishing off her ensemble, were a pair of high-heeled sandals and shin-guards that reached up over her knees. She also wore dark blue polish on her fingers and toes, and had on dark blue lipstick.

The woman was what many men would consider the epitome of beauty, and gave off a cheerful demeanor, which was further enhanced by her beautiful and cheerful smile. Despite this, she carried herself with the grace that could only come from years of being a shinobi, and held herself like an experienced leader.

The person beside the woman was a man, who had short tufty blue hair, and dark eyes. He also had pointed, shark-like teeth. He was wearing square, black-rimmed glasses connected to what appear to be headphones, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. He also had on his forehead protector on the front of his holster which he used to carry a large, double-hilted sword. The sword itself is wrapped in bandages leaving only the double hilt visible. He also had shuriken holsters strapped onto each of his legs.

However, it wasn't the difference in gender, nor clothes that gave these two such a stark contrast. Where the woman appeared to be the confident and held all the qualities that signified a leader, the man seemed to be shy and held himself in a way that showed a distinct lack in confidence. It was this difference that truly distinguished the two.

"S-sign here please?" the voice caught the attention of the two Kiri ninja and they turned to see a pair of chunin, both staring at the auburn haired woman with glazed over, drooling expressions. The one who had managed to actually speak was holding a clipboard that was at the moment slipping from his grasp, and he "had" been holding a pen but that had long since fallen to the ground.

The woman sighed as her bodyguard grabbed the pen and signed the two of them in, she had long since grown used to such treatment, even with the war in her country she had not escaped some lewd glances. Thankfully, they only came from her enemies, since her own shinobi knew what happened to those who looked at her with such lust filled eyes. She only wished that she were not on a diplomatic mission here so she could melt the men who couldn't stop stripping her in their minds.

"...have a good stay..."

The dumbfounded voice of the chunin only caused her to snort as she made her way into the village of Konoha. Taking a look around as she walked, the auburn haired woman found the village itself was rather beautiful. Trees seemed to litter the entire village, giving its namesake as the Village Hidden in the Leaves a very literal translation. From where she was walking she could easily see the Hokage Monument, a mountain that held the faces of the four Leaders of the the village past and present, overlooking the entire village. People of all ages were milling about, playing and talking and just having a good time. The entire village gave off a peaceful aura that one would not have expected from one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, much less the one that was called the strongest. In all honesty she wished her own village was this peaceful.

Now if only she could get rid of all the men giving her lecherous stares than it would be perfect.

"T-Terumi-S-sama," the blue haired man asked as they walked through the village, "s-shouldn't we get a place to rest?"

"No," the woman said, "I wish to schedule an appointment with the Hokage first." They were already coming up on their destination. The Hokage residence was a large mansion that was located close to both the Ninja Academy and Hokage Monument. It was also the largest building in Konoha, towering over all other buildings.

They entered through the front door and after asking a stuttering and blushing jonin for directions, took the stairs all the way up to the top floor, where the Hokage's office was located. Walking up to the front desk the aubrun haired beauty coughed to get the female who was manning the desks attention.

The woman looked up and gave her a jealous glare, "can I help you?"

"I was hoping that I could schedule an appointment to see the Hokage," the auburn haired woman said with a pleasant smile.

"Hold on one moment," the woman walked towards the door and opened it, there was some muffled talking before the woman came back and said, "Hokage-Sama is available right now."

"Thank you," she said with a cheerful smile, even as she was thinking about what a bitch the lady was. It wasn't her fault she was prettier than the other woman was.

Entering the room she took a moment to get her bearings even as she walked up to the desk where Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and the man who had been hailed the professor was sitting. She knew not to underestimate the man just because he was old, this was the man who had led a village through two Great Shinobi wars and was still strong enough to continue leading even after having been retired once.

Being very respectful she gave the Hokage a curtsy, doing her best not to let her bust jiggle to much since the old mans eyes seemed to have latched onto it, especially if the light blush on the mans face was anything to go by. _Perverted old man, _she thought, even as she said, "it's a pleasure to meet you Hokage-Dono, my name is Mei Terumi."

"A pleasure to meet you Mei-san," Sarutobi said with a congenial smile, making a concerted effort to take his eyes from her bust. "My secretary said you wish to discuss something with me?"

"Yes," Mei replied.

Sarutobi nodded, "Normally I would make some small talk but considering what I have heard of your homeland I don't believe you wish for that."

"No," Mei agreed, taking a deep breath before plunging on. "I have come to request your aid. My people are currently suffering under the yoke of oppression from the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, and the many bloodline clans Kirigakure holds are nearing extinction. As a nation who covets there own bloodlines I'm sure you can appreciate the situation we're in."

There was a long paused as Sarutobi took on a deep look of contemplation before speaking, "I can certainly sympathize with your people. However, due to the Kyuubi attack eight years ago we are still recovering, as of now, I don't have the necessary forces to both protect my Village and aid you in the war. I am sorry."

"Oh, it's alright," Mei replied, keeping her smile up even as she felt disappointment settling in. she had hoped to gain some support from the bloodline loving Village but it seemed she was wasting her time.

Just as she was about to turn around and leave the door burst open, and in walked what, to her, was the most amusing sight she had ever seen. A young boy of about nine years old, with sun-kissed blond hair, bright blue eyes, a Cherub like face that made him look slightly like a chibi and the cutest whisker like birthmarks she had ever seen on his cheeks. Though his clothes left something to be desired.

His outfit consisted of an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as up and down the front, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl on the back, a big white collar, orange pants, blue sandals and a pair of goggles resting on his forehead. Honestly, what a child was doing in such a horrendous outfit was beyond her.

"Oi Ojisan! Are you ready to give me that hat now!" the whiskered blond shouted as he stalked into the room, the secretary looking sheepish as she stood in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry Hokage-Sama," she apologized, "I tried to tell him you were in a meeting but -"

"Its perfectly alright," Sarutobi placated, "I know very well how hard it is to get him not to do something when he's determined. Don't worry, I'll deal with him," The secretary nodded and left. The aging man looked at the grinning blond, "you do know it's rude to interrupt the Hokage when he's in an important meeting Naruto-kun?"

Naruto blinked for a few minutes before he rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly, "hehe, sorry Ojisan..." he trailed off and eyed Mei, then turned back to the Hokage and asked, "hey who's the pretty lady? Your not perving on her are you?"

"What? No, I am not... perving on her!" Sarutobi said with a scowl, and a light blush. Mei actually found herself enjoying the odd and amusing new dynamic the young blond added to the conversation.

"Yeah, what ever, you pervy old man," Naruto said. "Anyways, I'm making this really cool jutsu and it's gonna be so strong that it'll totally beat you, then you'll have to give me that hat and make me Hokage!"

"Yes, yes, but until you create that jutsu and you manage to beat me, I'm gonna have to ask that you get out of the room until my meeting is concluded," Sarutobi said in a patient voice that told Mei he had done this many times before.

"Aw! Do I have too?" asked Naruto with a whine in his voice.

"Yes, you have to," Sarutobi said.

"Fine," suddenly the blond was pointing a shaking finger at the Hokage, "but be prepared to lose that hat the next time I see you!" With that said the blond stalked back out of the room, not even paying attention to Mei or her bodyguard as he slammed the door shut.

"I'm terribly sorry about him," Sarutobi apologized to Mei. "He's an orphan of the Kyuubi attack and has become something a prankster who enjoys disregarding the rules."

"That's alright," Mei said with a dainty shrug, "our business was more or less concluded. In fact, since we got an answer I think we'll find a hotel to stay the night and leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"Very well," Sarutobi said, "again, I apologize for not being able to help you."

Mei with held a disappointed sigh, "I'm sure."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>crouched down on a building several dozen feet away from the Hokage Residence, Naruto watched as the auburn haired beauty and the blue haired man with the sword left and made their way into the city. <em>"So what <em>_do you think, Akane-chan?"_

"**_Hmmm... this is definitely an opportunity that we can use to gain some experience," _**Akane tapped her chin in thought as she looked at the pair through Naruto's eyes. **_"Have a Kage Bunshin tail them so you know where their going to stay, we don't want to appear just as they leave from their meeting with the Hokage or it'll draw attention."_**

"_True, and if I'm going to be fighting in a war I'll need to remake my Chishio Bunshin because I have no clue how long I'll be gone."_ His thoughts in place a clone phased in existence to his left, transforming into a nondescript female and dropping into the alley they were next too. Meanwhile Naruto made his way to his apartment complex.

Walking up to his door Naruto placed his hands in a small circle that held a set of seals, which immediately became visible when he channeled some chakra to them. The seals looked similar to his resistance seals, two small circles with an outward pattern that looked like chains. As he began channeling more chakra the chains began to slither and coil around the circle, getting smaller and smaller until they fit within the twin circles perfectly. Opening the door Naruto stepped into his room.

The first thing Naruto did was create his Chishio Bunshin, for the last year he had been draining his blood several times a week in order to have a stock ready for when he needed to make his unique form of Bunshin. Grabbing a two gallon bucket of blood from a hidden pocket space located in a cupboard in his kitchen, Naruto carried it to the training ground where he set it down.

"_**Ready?"**_ asked Akane.

"_All set,"_ Naruto replied as he placed his hands in the thick, red liquid and began to focus. While both him and Akane began channeling their respected energies, the whiskered blond was also picturing himself in his minds eye. Unlike human jutsu, all of Akane's special abilities was based off of intent; there were no hands signs, no shouting out the name of your jutsu, just imagining what you wanted to happen and applying your chakra, or in Akane's case, Youki.

The blood within the bucket began to bubble, climbing into the air slowly it looked like a person sticking their hand out of the red liquid. More and more soon came out, the bucket was knocked over at the blood took shape outside of it. Two legs soon formed, then some feet, two arms and hands followed along with the fingers, toes and the head. The head formed a mouth, a nose and a set of eyes, along with mimicking Naruto's spiky hair. However, it was still blood.

Soon enough that began to change, starting from the feet it began to gain skin. It crawled up the figure at a slow pace and as it reached the chest, the skin branched off in three different directions; the arms and head. Finally the 'jutsu' was finished and in front of Naruto stood an exact replica of him.

"You know what to do?" asked Naruto.

"Of course, don't worry boss, I got it all covered," Chishio Naruto said with a smirk.

"Alright then, since its summer you get free rein, try to cause as much trouble as you can."

Chishio Naruto's smirk widened, "don't worry, I will."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Mei Terumi sighed as she finished allowing herself the small luxury of taking a long, hot bath. Now wrapped around in a simple bath robe the young auburn haired beauty found herself sitting on the couch, sipping some of warm tea.<p>

"I can't believe I wasted a month long trip to come here," she muttered as she remembered the meeting she had with the Hokage, even now she felt disappointed; not just in Hiruzen for not helping her but in herself for thinking he would. "Ao did try to warn me this might happen, I hope he and the others are alright."

just then a knock sounded at the door. Mei blinked as she stood up and cautiously walked over, "who is it?"

"Someone who's heard about your plight and wants to help," a voice sounded from behind the door, making her blink; both at the sound of the voice and the words spoken. Mei opened the door to see a handsome male with red hair and purple eyes wearing a dark blue kimono, black Hakama and tabi socks with waraji standing in the hallway. The man too seemed to be looking at her, though Mei was surprised when no blush came to his face.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," he commented lightly. This woman was quite easily one of the most beautiful he had ever seen, but compared to Akane's unearthly beauty she was just above average.

Mei looked down and realized she had not changed into her clothes. She found herself blushing rather heavily before she muttered, "could you excuse me for a second." and shut the door. Getting dressed in her normal clothes, Mei opened the door again. "Now what was it you were saying?"

"I was saying that I had heard about your problems in Kiri and how you were looking for help," the red head commented, his eyes staying on hers. "I have a strong dislike towards those who hold an unreasonable hate for others just because there different and decided to offer my services to you."

"I see," Mei's eyes narrowed, "and how did you find out about my request for aid?"

"I have incredible hearing and you were muttering to yourself," he shrugged lightly, "something about disappointing old monkey's."

"Did I really say that?" asked Mei with a blush.

"You did."

pausing Mei looked at the male before her some more, aside from his extremely handsome good looks, there wasn't much about him that stood out. "I hope you don't take offense to me asking, but what can you offer me that would make me want your help?"

Now came the tricky part, Naruto and Akane had been unsure of just how much information they should give away in order to sell him as someone worth having. In they end, they had agreed that there was one thing they could show that might make her agree.

Holding out his hand Naruto summoned his blade, allowing Mei to see the black Daito that was unique to him alone.

"Hitokage No Yaiba," Mei breathed, her eyes as wide as they could go, even if you could only see one of them. She stared at the haired male who had a small smirk plastered on his face, "your an Uzumaki!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"T-Terumi-Sama, a-are you sure this guys gonna show up?" asked the blue haired swordsmen as he stood at the North Gate next to his beautiful leader.<p>

"Of course I am Choujuro," Mei replied with a calm heir, "I told him to be here at eight, we still have ten minutes left. Just be patient." Not wanting to countermand his leaders beliefs, Choujuro opted to remain silent. Mei was right anyways, not even ten minutes later the man she had spoken of could be seen walking towards them.

"Mei-san," the man greeted with a smile, "I hope you had a pleasant night."

"It was nice," Mei replied, "Konoha is a rather peaceful village." she paused and raised an eyebrow, "I hope you are all ready to go, Arashi-san?"

"Of course," Arashi replied with a chuckle, "I finished my business a few days ago, I was more or less just lazing around before I started on my travels again."

"Then we should head out," Mei said, and together, the three of them walked out of the North Gate. It wasn't long after that they had taken to the trees, traveling along the shortest route to reach the small port town that Mei and Choujuro had arrived from.

The time spent traveling was quiet, Arashi used it to speak with his inner demon. _"Akane-chan, have you ever been to Mizu No Kuni?"_

"_**Once or twice, Bijuu rarely ever traveled away from the nations they were given to watch over." **_Akane paused, **_"However, I did travel a bit when I began hearing of the other Bijuu getting captured and sealed. I visited Mizu No Kuni during my travels than."_**

While Arashi was talking to his inner vixen, Mei and Choujuro were keeping an eye on the young man. Mei in particular was curious about him, while Choujuro was interested in seeing the Uzumaki bloodline up close.

The group of three traveled for five hours, stopping when the sun began to set. "Ok, now that we're far out of Konoha," Mei turned her eyes on Arashi, "why don't you tell me how you really found out about my request," the way she said those words let the red head know that she was not asking him.

"I should have figured my excuse would seem flimsy," Arashi chuckled a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you precisely how I heard about your visit to the Sandaime," at Mei's scowl he added, "but I can tell you that not much goes through that village without me hearing about it."

Mei raised an eyebrow, from the way he spoke it sounded like he had a spy network in Konoha, or something that ran along those lines. She wondered for a moment how it was that he could have a network that was extensive enough to slip into the Hokage's room unnoticed.

Meanwhile Choujuro looked at Arashi in suspicion, "Te-Terumi-Sama, how do we know we can trust him?"

"You can't," Arashi said, answering the blue haired swordsman's question for Mei. "All you can do is either accept my words as the truth when I say I want to help you, or you don't, it's as simple as that. However, you two are ninja, trust isn't really something you dole out without good reason. So I wouldn't expect you to trust me until I can prove myself to you."

"I'll trust you, for now," Mei said, "however, if you give me any reason to suspect treachery, you will be dealt with. Understood?" she asked, in a sickeningly sweet voice that sent shivers down Naruto's spine.

"_**You know, I actually kind of like her."**_

"_You would,"_ Naruto resisted a scowl as he turned a smile on Mei, "I understand perfectly."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>the trip through Hi No Kuni took one week total, it would have taken less time but they had run afoul of a group of bandits that had been stupid enough to make comments about how they were going to 'ride the pretty little red head until she was all used up' resulting in Naruto laying witness to the most brutal slaughters he had ever seen.<p>

Choujuro, while lacking in any kind of confidence seemed to grow a pair when he heard Mei insulted, and had used his sword, Hiramekarei. It had been interesting to see the sword in action; the Hiramekarei had two holes in the upper end of the blade that were capable of shooting out chakra, which Choujuro seemed capable of manipulating to form weapons, such as a hammer. The only problem he had was that the weapon seemed to tire him out easily.

However, while Choujuro's weapon and skills were impressive, what had really held Naruto's interest was Mei's ability. She was very observant while in battle and could pick up on slight discrepancies in other person's personality; had a very strong taijutsu style, which Naruto had lain witness to when she kicked a man strait through a tree. She wasn't like Tsunade, a student of the Sandaime Hokage who was said to be capable of crushing boulders with a finger flick, but she was definitely powerful.

But it was her nature manipulation that had really peaked Naruto's interest. Mei was capable of using the earth, fire, and water natures, and had two Kekkei Genkei, a blood line trait similar to the Uzumaki's, only hers was elemental based.

The first, by fusing earth and fire elements, allowed her to use Yoton (Lava Release) ninjutsu, which made her capable of feats such as spitting out lava that could melt almost anything in its path. The great amount of steam generated after the lava strikes also managed to serve as an effective smokescreen, allowing her to attack again while the enemy was distracted. During the battle she had used this ability to great affect, Naruto had almost felt pity for the man whose balls she had melted off.

The second, by fusing water and fire elements, allowed her to use Futton (Boil Release) ninjutsu, which granted her the ability to release a corrosive mist that was capable of burning away anything it touches. After the battle she had told him that she had the ability to alter the potency and acidity of the mist created by her Futton techniques and she was apparently not affected by the mist herself.

They made it to a small port town and had booked passage that would take them to Mizu No Kuni (Land of Water), the nation where Kirigakure was located.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the breeze blowing against his face, he took a deep breath as the smell of the ocean filled his senses. It was an invigorating experience for someone who loved to try new things. Having only started traveling last year he had never been out to sea before, it was definitely an experience worth returning to at some point in time.<p>

Mei had said that it would take two weeks to reach Mizu No Kuni's shores, and another week to get to the rebel encampment. Given that he was likely to be integrated into the war very soon, the red head felt it would be wise to enjoy what peace he had left.

"_**You could enjoy some of that peace here in the seal with me,"**_ Akane suggested with a smile that went unseen, **_"I was thinking we could make a beach and I could even do some suntanning, topless."_**

Arashi felt his face heat up at her comment as the image of a topless Akane came to his mind. _"Can you please, PLEASE not say things like that when I'm in public?"_

"_**What's wrong Naruto-kun? I thought you would like the images that provoked."**_

"_I do – no wait – I don't – no wait, it just that -"_

he was cut off by Akane's giggle, _**"Oh my, your so fun Naruto-kun."**_

Arashi scowled as the woman's laughter faded, he was so glad this body was only real in its looks. If his transformation had made his body the same as any other eighteen year old, then he would have needed a cold shower right about now. A very cold shower.

"Enjoying the whether?" turning his head Arashi saw Mei walking up behind him with the same cheerful smile on her face that she always had. He quickly shoved Akane's words into the back of his mind, lest he begin stripping the auburn haired beauty in front of him with his eyes.

"More like the experience," Arashi said as he turned back to look out at the ocean. "I've never traveled by sea before, its surprisingly soothing. The whether is nice too though," he added at the end.

Mei smiled as she changed the subject, "it will only be a few more days before we reach the port of Fuwaato Kaiko (Floating Harbor), then we'll be in Mizu No Kuni."

Mizu No Kuni was one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and contained the hidden village of Kirigakure. It was composed of many islands, with each having its own unique traditions. During their travel towards the port in Konoha, Arashi had Mei tell him what she knew of Mizu No Kuni's geology.

"What kind of situation can we expect to find once we get there?" asked Arashi.

"I don't know," Mei sighed, "I left my people in capable hands but during a war, even the smallest amount of time can change the tides, causing the balance of power to shift from one side to the other. For all I know the war could already be over and we could be walking to either our deaths, or our victory."

"That sounds a little extreme," Arashi said with a small frown.

"Maybe, but that's what things are like in a war." Mei looked at him for a few seconds longer before saying, "anyways, make sure your ready to leave by the time we reach port. As soon as we're on dry land, we'll be in enemy territory."

Arashi watched her walk away. Turning back to look out at the sea he muttered, "lady, I'm always ready."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>The port town the three of them got off at had definitely seen better days, the ships that would normally be bustling in and out of the port were almost nonexistent, with their only being one or two ships in the dock. Most of the buildings were run down and had rust staining many different areas, making it obvious they either did not have the resources or the people to maintain appearances.<p>

As they walked further into the port city, Arashi could see a lot of people that appeared to be homeless. Many of them were sitting off to the sides of the street, begging for money or food while others were hidden in back alleys and side streets. What was worse was that Arashi could see whole families who were homeless, little children who were even more malnourished then he had been when trying to scrounge a living in the streets of Konoha.

The place was definitely bleak, if this was how things were looking under the current Mizukage's rule than he could see why people like Mei were fighting.

They slowly worked their way through the city, being careful not to attract attention. Arashi saw several ninja wearing Kirigakure forehead protectors jumping from the roofs. The place was teeming with ninja that were loyal to the Mizukage, now he understood what Mei meant when she said enemy territory. No matter where he looked there was an enemy somewhere in his sight.

When they reached the edge of the city Arashi spotted a middle aged man wearing an eye patch over his right eye. He was wearing a talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of "to hear" (_shō, uketamawa(ru)_) written on them twice on each side. He also had on a striped shirt and pants with seemingly the same pattern, with a green robe over them. His blue hair was pointed up in a single spike that looked slightly slanted. Over all that he wore a bluish-green kimono and a striped under-shirt.

"Ao," Mei said with a smile, "it is good to see you are well, but why are you the one picking us up? I thought Kira was going to be coming."

"I felt it would be best if I came personally," the man known as Ao replied.

"I see," though her smile remained in place Arashi could sense a tension to the woman that had not been there before. It was enough to put him on guard, "well I'm glad to see your taking things so seriously, I feel much safer in your hands."

Mei and Choujuro shared a meaningful look, one that Arashi caught easily. Things remained tense as they moved out of the city and into the surrounding swampy woodlands. However, before they moved too far Mei and Choujuro attacked Ao, who managed to jump out of the way just in time to keep himself from getting killed.

"Who are you!" shouted Mei as she glared at the man who Naruto figured was an imposter. "Ao would have never abandoned his post when I gave explicit instructions to hold the fort. Tell me who you are!"

"Who I am doesn't matter," the man said, his voice sounding different, gruffer, then before. "Because your going to die," a dozen Kiri ninja appeared from the surrounding trees. "Mei Terumi, we've been waiting a long time to kill you, with you gone the bloodline rebels won't have anyone to look up to."

"How did they find out about us?" asked Mei, wondering how they knew she had left Kiri and when they would get there.

"Mei-san, can you do a Suishoha (Water Shockwave)?" asked Arashi.

"Of course," said Mei, she would have scoffed at the question were the situation not so seriously.

"Then do so!"

Mei blinked at the commanding note in the red haired mans voice, had this been a normal situation she would have questioned why he was ordering her around. As it was she found herself performing the hand seals at near blinding speed. One of Mei's greatest strengths had always been her hand seal speed, which was faster than most ninja could ever hope to keep up with in their life.

"Suiton: Suishouha (Water Release: Water Shockwave)!" because Mizu No Kuni was nothing more then a string of islands, water was an extremely abundant resource. The area that Naruto, Mei and Choujuro were standing had several rivers and streams that connected to the sea. So when Mei called out her jutsu, water from every direction surged towards them, creating a large vortex.

Before anything else could happen Naruto slammed his hands on the ground. Large cracks appeared around him and the Rebel leader and her bodyguard, right before several gout's of flame burst up from the cracks. The fire hit the vortex of water, creating a thick mist that was impossible for anyone to see through.

"What the hell!"

"Damn it, I can't see!"

"Who cares! Just launch your jutsu at their last location!"

voice shouted from all around them, and Mei was trying to figure out what Arashi was doing, and what she herself should be doing. The situation was soon taken out of her hands as she felt herself being scooped up into a pair of arms almost faster then she could react, her instincts almost led her to lash out at who ever had grabbed her. She flicked one of the kunai that she kept secured in her sleeves and was about to stab the person carrying her, when she looked and noticed it was Arashi.

"What are you doing?" she asked, both curious and slightly peeved about him carrying her.

"The boss is taking care of the bad guys at the moment, he didn't want you and Choujuro to get in the way."

"The boss?"

"Yeah, I'm just a clone."

"Oh." For some reason the knowledge that she was being carried by a clone surprised her. The clone stopped at a tree branch a little ways away and set her down.

"Where's Choujuro?" asked Mei, worried about her bodyguard and friend.

"Over there," Arashi's clone pointed to a tree two feet away where Choujuro was standing next to another clone. Just then screams came in through the mist, and Mei couldn't help but wonder what was going on within the thick, white smokescreen.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Moving as far away as he could be while still remaining in the mist, Arashi waited until the third kage bunshin he had made dispelled, letting him know both Mei and Choujuro were out of the Mist. That meant he could get to work.<p>

Calling forth Hikage No Ookamki, Arashi closed his eyes and began to sense out his opponents. He felt a light breeze coming from the left of him and acted quickly, running towards the source of the breeze and slicing his sword in a vertical slash. He easily felt as well as heard his blade slicing through flesh and bone, which was soon followed by a scream that turned into a strangled gurgle, then a thud as the man fell to the floor. Dead.

"Did you hear that!"

"It came from over there!"

Arashi followed the voices with his ears to pinpoint there exact location, when he found the two that spoke he made liberal use of the sunshin to move behind one of them. A flash of his blade and the shinobi the red haired swordsman was standing behind was killed, literally chopped in half at the waist as the top half of his body went flying.

A loud thud and a shriek let him know the several body had hit another ninja, a kunoichi by the sound feminine tone. Or maybe a man who screamed like a girl. Either way he assumed it was a woman, that complicated things a little. He appeared right in front of the ninja who screamed, definitely a girl now that he saw her and reversed the grip of his blade, smacking the kunoichi in the temple and knocking her unconscious. It may seem sexist, but ever since he began raiding bandit camps and saving the occasional woman from rape and worse, he had promised himself that he would never kill a woman unless it was a clear cut case of kill or be killed. And he didn't feel it had gotten to that point yet.

Out of instincts alone, Arashi ducked and rolled forward, his enhanced senses picked up the 'swish' of a blade where he had previously been. Sucking in a deep breath, he blew out a compressed ball of wind and was rewarded with a shout of pain. Who ever had been hit would be dead so, no matter where they got hit. He had gotten his Fuuton: Renkūdon (Wind Release: Drilling air Bullet) to the point where he could compress to the size of a baseball. While it was much smaller, and didn't have have as much mass, it was also much more powerful, and would blow a whole through anything it hit.

Sending a pulse of chakra to act as a sonar, Arashi could tell there were eight more ninja around him, and they were currently trying to get out of the mist. He quickly set himself into a stronger stance, feet spread at a forty-five degree angle from each other, shoulder distance apart with his knees bent. His sword was in a two handed grip and held near his face with the blade pointing up. Sending out another pulse he memorized the location of each enemy ninja.

"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Kage Shinten (Uzumaki Secret technique: Dark Release: Shadow Extension!" the words were barely whispered as Arashi spun around in a circle. Were the mist not still acting as an effective smokescreen, the enemy ninja would have seen Arashi's blade become covered in shadows that shot out in a long twenty-five foot extension. As it was they did not see and therefore could do nothing as it cut into them. Hearing eight separate thuds, Arashi knew he had won. He released a burst of wind chakra that dispersed the misty smoke screen.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Mei watched as the mist dispelled and was shocked to see Arashi, whole and single with out a scratch on him and all of the ninja sent after them on the ground, mostly dead. "Was that Muon Satsujin Jutsu (Silent Killing Technique)?" asked Mei as the red haired swordsman jumped to her position.<p>

"The what?" asked Arashi confusedly, he had never heard of that particular style.

"It's a style used for silent assassinations," Mei explained, "One of the former members of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, Zabuza Momoichi was a master of this style."

"While I know of Zabuza I've never heard of silent killing," Arashi shrugged, "anyways, we need to leave. Those ninja I just beat were far too weak to be an ambush squad, they couldn't have been higher than Chunin. They were likely only here to slow us down."

"So then we'd better get out of here fast," Mei muttered. "Choujuro! We're moving out!" she shouted down to Choujuro was still on the ground. The blue haired shinobi looked up and nodded.

"Let's go!" the three of them took, Choujuro jumping into the trees to follow them as they sped towards the rebel hide-out. Hopefully they would reach the base before the real ambush group arrived.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Back within the village of Konoha things had gotten rather...tense. A series of large pranks had been played on many of the shops, restaurants and even the clans in Konoha for the past three weeks.<p>

The first string of pranks had been done the first morning of the first day of the week, when the store owners of several prominent shops, all of which had refused Naruto entrance, found all of their stock and inventory switched out with stuff from other stores. Even the items and supplies that had been locked up were swapped. Grocery stores found their food had been switched out with leather, silk, cotton and other cloth needed to make clothes; while civilian outfitting stores had their entire stock of clothing supplies replaced with fruits, vegetables, meats and canned goods. It took several hours for the stores to get everything sorted out. And when they did sort it out and go home, the next day they found their supplies had all been swapped again, forcing them to work extra hard once more. This continued on for a full week, and by the time the person who plotted this prank was done, the store owners and clerks were all so exhausted from working, and trying to sort everything out that they had closed shop the next day.

The second week consisted of two pranks. The first was sneaking into the Inuzuka Clan compound and stealing several dozen bottles worth of dog piss and pheromones. All of the dog piss was dumped into the various food stuff of several different restaurants that had refused Naruto service, while the pheromones were set up in a spray bottle with a timed release on the ceiling fans, this way every hour on the hour the spray would launch a concentrated dose of pheromones that would spread out across the room where people were eating.

Many people had become sick after eating the food full of dog piss, but as soon as they tried to leave so they could go home they were beset by dozens of horny stray dogs that proceeded to dry hump them. It became even worse when who ever had set up this prank had released the kennel for the Inuzuka dogs, so on top of the hundred of strays that had started molesting the civilian and shinobi population, they also had to deal with several dozen large, horny nin-dogs. Many people became mentally scarred that day.

The second prank of that week had been on the Anbu headquarters. The entire building, which had previously been a nondescript gray color, was now a bright puke green. The inside of the building, which should be impossible for ordinary citizens to sneak into, had been entirely covered floor to ceiling in bubble-wrap. The masks, which normally had a painted depiction of some kind of animal had all been cleaned to their original white. Then someone had taken the liberty of paying crude looking penis right next to where the mouths were. Some even had two penis'.

On the third week the pranks seemed to have been taken a step up, and the prankster had decided to begin hitting Konoha's clans. The first to receive a prank were the Nara and Yamanaka clans. The dears that the Nara clan looked after had all had their hair shaved into varying shapes, the leaf symbol, the Uzumaki swirl, a Hirashin Kunai, a very detailed depiction of Kurenai Yuuhi, Yugao Uzuki, Hana Inuzuka and Anko Mitirashi naked and fondling themselves. This not only caused a problem with all of the Nara clan wives, but also the four aforementioned women who, upon hearing of this, had stormed the Nara head house and demanded an explanation on the threat of castration. Poor Shikaku never knew what hit him.

The next prank was played against the Hyuga clan, aka the white eyes, aka the weird blind guys, aka the clan of closet perverts. This particular prank had involved every single Icha Icha Book ever made being placed in the dresser drawer of every male Hyuga. Needless to say, when the female members found the legendary perverted books in their husbands, boyfriends, brother's drawers, getting Jyukened to death was the least of the worries. The only female who did not Jyuken any male Hyuga members balls off, was one Hinata Hyuga, who had been given her own copy of Icha Icha. The minute she had looked at the pages upon pages of graphic porn, the poor girl had been blown back into a wall. Receiving both a concussion and passing out from severe blood loss.

The final prank was not against a clan per se. but it was just as, if not more vicious then the other ones combined. One day as Sasuke Uchiha was getting back from training, he had been busy entertaining thoughts on killing Itachi. It was because he was so preoccupied that he never noticed the small dart flying towards him until it became lodged in his neck.

He had woken up, five hours later, stripped to his boxers, which were pink and said 'I love men on' them, tied up and hanging from the ceiling of Konoha's only gay bar, which was where the next Sasuke Uchiha Fan boy club meeting was to take place not five minutes later. The village of Konoha soon played host to loud, terrified shrieks, making many assume ghosts were haunting the place.

By the end of the third week, tension was running high and everyone, civilian and shinobi alike were looking over their shoulder, wondering when they would be pranked next. In order to maintain the illusion that everything was under control, the Hokage had called all of the jonin and Anbu that were in the village for an emergency meeting.

"I am sure you all know why you are here," Hiruzen Sarutobi began, smoking on a multicolored pipe that looked like a child had gotten a hold of some pain and splattered it on. It was only a minor prank that had gotten him but it was still annoying to know that someone could reach his pipe and do that. What if it had been poisoned?

"Because of the string of really funny-ass pranks, right?" asked Anko, a woman with light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her violet hair was done up in a short, somewhat spiky ponytail. As was her usual code of dress she was wearing a tan overcoat, complete with a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs. She wore a dark orange mini-skirt, as well as a forehead protector, a small pendant that looks like a snake fang on a thick cord rather than a chain to prevent it from being easily torn off in combat, a wrist watch, and shin guards. She also had on a dark blue belt around her waist that connected to her skirt that had an appendage-like sash. Hidden on the back of her neck on the left side was a seal, which had the appearance of three tomoe. Currently, she was grinning like it was her birthday. "I don't know about you, but some of those pranks had me laughing my ass off."

"You mean like the one where the Nara clan dear had a depiction of you naked on it?" asked a random jonin who was instantly regretted talking as several snakes wrapped around him and slammed him straight into a wall.

"Was that really necessary Anko-san?" asked Sarutobi. The woman just gave him a dead pan look, reminding him of just who he was talking to.

"Right," Sarutobi sighed, he almost forgot who he was dealing with. "As you know these past three weeks we have played host to a string of pranks. However, these pranks aren't just the harmless pranks of a child, somehow, who ever did these has managed to prank the Anbu along with some of our most powerful Kekkei Genkei clans. If someone can sneak into the compounds of our most prominent clans and Anbu HQ for a simply prank, then they could just as easily do the same thing for more devious purposes. Like say, putting poison in the Hyuga's water supply."

that silenced everyone as they realized the seriousness of the situation.

"So what do we do?" asked a random jonin in the back.

"Obviously our patrols and guard points have been compromised, therefore we need to come up with entirely new patrol routes, as well as random inspections and guard shifts." The Hokage spent the rest of the time detailing there new plan to guard against these pranks and the more serious threat of someone who may use the knowledge for more nefarious purposes.

They never noticed a small fly that had been sticking to the wall disappear in a puff of smoke.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>A soft whistling sound could be heard by Arashi as he, Mei and Choujuro made their way to the bloodline rebel factions hide out. "Scatter!" he shouted, causing the other two to break away just as several kunai with exploding tags hit the place they had previously been moving to, then exploding and taking out the tree they had stuck to in a blaze of fire.<p>

Arashi swore as he looked behind them to see nearly three dozen shinobi, he could tell these ones were the elite, jonin, from the way they moved and their flak jackets, which the first dozen he beat didn't have. "I hope one of you two have a plan," he commented right before he sucked in a deep breath, and then blew out a large fire dragon that roared fiercely as it charged towards several of the kiri ninja.

"Suiton: Suejinheki (Water Release: Water Wall)!" one of the kiri shinobi called out, summoning forth a large wall of water that swirled around them as the fire dragon struck. Their was a loud explosion of steam as the two jutsu canceled each other out.

Mei watched with a small amount of shock as Arashi used a rather powerful jutsu without a single hand seal, that kind of ability took decades of dedicated training. She herself could only do the Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone) without hand seals. Just who was Arashi Kazama?

"Two of us are going to have to stay behind in order to keep the enemy from following," Mei said as she came up with a plan of action. "The one who goes on ahead will go to our main base as fast as they can and get reinforcements to help the other two out."

"Well, considering I have no clue where the base is, I'm staying," Arashi commented. He was fine with staying here, this would be his first true test as a shinobi anyways, fighting bandits and the occasional small time ninja wasn't really much of a test anyways. "How far is the base?"

"Not far," Choujuro answered for Mei, "about a mile out from here."

"So who am I going to get the honor of fighting alongside today?"

Choujuro opened his mouth to volunteer but Mei beat him to it, "I will."

"B-but T-Terumi-Sama..." stuttered our Choujuro.

"Don't worry about me Choujuro," Mei said with a calm smile, despite the fact they were still being chased. "I am a kage level ninja after all, I'll be fine." When it looked like the blue haired swordsman was about to argue she said, "this isn't the time, the faster you get to base, the sooner you can get help. Now go!"

Choujuro knew when he wouldn't win a battle and quickly took off, leaving the two others behind.

"So, how do you want to do this?" asked Arashi, gripping his sword as he looked over his shoulder at the horde of ninja coming towards them.

Mei smiled as she sped through a number of hand seals, "we'll do it like this, you may want to get behind me! Futton: Kōmu No Jutsu (Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique)!" blowing out a deep breath, Mei created a cloud of mist which she from her mouth. Arashi, who had scrambled behind her before she blew out the mist, watched as the first wave of ninja were unable to slow down and ran straight into the mist. The affects were almost immediate as screams of pain sounded across the woods, the men who had ran afoul of the mist were being melted.

Of course, only about five of the nearly five dozen ninja ran into the mist. The rest were able to circumvent the ever expanding cloud.

Arashi dispelled his sword and went through a series of hand seals for one of his more powerful jutsu. "Fuuton: Uzumaki Koku No Jutsu (Wind Release: Cutting Winds of the Whirlpool)!" the jutsu was his only original technique, it had taken him five months to come up with the idea for the jutsu, another two to figure out the hand seals, and three months of having two hundred Kage Bunshin, all enhanced with Akane's Youki, practicing it to complete. The jutsu itself, was not that complicated in what it did, but the amount of control one had to have over their wind chakra was astronomical. It had taken coming up with several of his own advanced exercises to train his wind nature beyond that of what was normally considered mastery. That had also extended the amount of time it took to master the jutsu, making it take a year and three months with two hundred kage bunshin each day to truly complete.

Sucking in a deep breath, Arashi blew out a large stream of wind that soon became a spinning vortex of power cutting winds. The air rippled as the wind tore through the ground and trees, the shimmering form of the jutsu was shown as a giant whirlpool, nearly sixty-five feet in diameter.

The ninja who had been in front of them didn't stand a chance, the winds tore through them like paper, shredding their bodies to the point where they didn't even look human, just lumps of bleeding flesh that was blown away by the fierce winds that the technique caused. Even the near dozen ninja that had not been caught in the epicenter of the blast were not left unharmed, those who were too close were sucked right into the jutsu, suffering the same fate as those who had been struck by the full force of the attack. While those who were too far away for the jutsu to suck up, were blown away and sent flying in a dozen different directions. By the time the jutsu had died down, twenty-two of the ninja that had been after them were dead, while another dozen had been blow away and the last dozen escaped unscathed.

_S-such incredible power!_ Mei thought in shock, _he channeled insane amounts of wind chakra into his lungs, then manipulated it into a condensed whirlpool like spiral and added wind blades into the mix, combining the two main uses of wind chakra into one fierce jutsu. Not only that, but he managed to add a rotating affect to the whirlpool, which sucked all those within a several foot radius into its power, and expelling those who were too far away. That kind of nature manipulation is off the charts! I don't even know if I would be capable of doing something like that._

Shocking Mei out of her thoughts, Arashi began to cough violently and fell to a knee. He placed one hand on the ground while his other went to his mouth as he began coughing up blood. _D-Damn it, it's still not truly complete, "Akane-chan, damage assessment?"_

"_**You managed to cut up the inside of your lungs and throat," **_Akane said as she began channeling her youki into his damaged organs to regenerate them. **_"Thankfully, you didn't tear your lungs apart like you did the last time you tried this. I don't think you'll be able to fully master this jutsu until you become a Hanyou. You simply don't have enough chakra to use the jutsu and liberally coat your lungs and throat for protection at the same time."_**

"_Right, note to self, wait until Hanyou to use jutsu again."_

"Are you alright, Arashi-san?" asked Mei as she leaned over him.

"Yeah, that jutsu still isn't complete, so it takes a toll on my body to use," he said. Looking towards the area of destruction his jutsu caused he added, "I apologize, but until my lungs heal I won't be much help for the rest of this fight."

Mei looked over to see what he meant and realized that there were still many ninja who had not gotten killed or injured during the attack. "That's fine," she said with a smile, "you just sit back and let me show you why I'm the leader of the Bloodline faction." And with that she began running the gauntlet on hand seals, her movements so fast even Arashi could barely see them.

"Yoton: Jinsoku Youtama (Lava Release: Rapid Fire Lava Bullets)!" Mei began spitting out several red globs of lava at a rapid pace, and Arashi got to see just how accurate she as every shot fired hit someone. Sometimes she would get a head shot, resulting in the instant death of who ever was unfortunate enough to be hit, and others would hit limbs, torso, hands, no matter where she hit though, the jutsu always melted straight through; even the flak jackets that would often give some minor protection against kunai would simply become molten ash. By the time the kiri forces had gotten close enough to truly attack in force, they had already been cut down to twenty ninja.

It was here that Arashi saw how power Mei's taijutsu truly was. The woman's style seemed to be more centered on using her feet than her fists, lashing out with powerful kicks that would literally break bones with each hit; often times the person that would get caught by one of her attacks would be sent flying into and sometimes through a tree.

Several of the ninja tried to catch her off guard by combining their chakra for a powerful Suiton Jutsu, but thanks to Mei's dual sub-elemental Kekkei Genkei their attacks might as well have been buildings blocks thrown by a toddler having a temper tantrum.

When the Kiri forces launched a combined Water Dragon at her, Mei created a power wall of lava that rendered the attack ineffectual and consequently saved her from several kunai that had been thrown in the hopes she would be caught off guard. Mei had then caught the entirety of the enemy ninja off guard by melting the wall back into lava and using it to create a powerful wave that swept the majority of the enemy forces away, right until they all melted down to their base components.

"There!" Mei said as she clapped her hands together in a manner that said she was finished. She turned to Arashi and smiled, "how was that?"

"Not bad," Arashi said as he stood up, his lungs were healing along nicely and he could finally breath properly now. Using his quick reflexes he flicker a kunai that sailed right towards Mei and passed by her cheek, a thud was heard and Mei turned around to see an enemy shinobi with the same kunai Arashi had just thrown lodged between his eyes. She turned back to her red haired companion and saw a smirk on his face, "but you missed one."

Mei couldn't help it as she burst out laughing, the absurdity and slight anti-climatic ending from that line was just too amusing to her. Letting out a little chuckle himself, Arashi was going to speak up when a voice came from several meters away, "Mei-Sama!"

they both turned and saw Ao, the real Ao, along with Choujuro and nearly three dozen rebel ninja. Mei tapped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms under her chest, unconsciously bringing attention to her bust. "Your late," she said, tapping her foot on the ground and raising an eyebrow at the man, "as you can see, Arashi-san and I have already taken care of our ambushers."

Ao turned to look at Arashi, who noticed his gaze and raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?"

"So you Arashi," the man said, nodding in approval as he looked the red head over. "We need all the help we can get, and It's nice to see that Terumi-Sama managed to get the help of a real man."

_Need...a real...man,_ Mei's eyebrows began to twitch as she heard his words, but thanks to some odd form of selective hearing, only managed to hear the words that pissed her off more than anything else.

"Its nice to see you strong enough to stand on your own two feet when engaged in combat..."

_Need...a real...man...engaged! _By this point Mei's eyebrows began to twitch prominently and she looked supremely annoyed.

"Why, back in my day..."

By that point Arashi had stopped listening as he felt an intense killing intent coming from Mei. He turned to see her giving Ao a sickly sweet smile that absolutely scared the crap out of him. "Ao," Mei said in a pleasant voice, "shut up... or I'll kill you."

Ao blinked and took a step back from the auburn haired beauty in no small amount of fear, "w-what did I do?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><span>Profile on the Uzumaki Clan:<span>

Originally, the Uzumaki clan had actually been a clan of Samurai, well known for their powerful and talented swordsmanship. No one knows when the Uzumaki Clan gained the Kekkei Genkei that would earn them the reputation as one of the most powerful clans in existence. All that is known is sometime during the era when the man known as the Rikudou Sennin discovered chakra, the Uzumaki clan were one of the first to appear with a bloodline.

The bloodline is called Hitokage No Yaiba, and is a chakra based bloodline. However, unlike most chakra based kekkei genkei, which are usually elemental in nature, such as the Shodaime's Mokuton ability. The Uzumaki bloodline is kenjutsu based. Formed from the chakra of an Uzumaki when their soul could be considered an adult, no two Uzumaki's will ever have the same blade. Each sword is distinctly unique, both in its looks and abilities. Records on the different abilities of an Uzumaki sword are scarce however, some people have claimed to have lain witness to Uzumaki's launching power cyclones out of their swords, or swords that can produce powerful toxins, some have even claimed to have seen Uzumaki blades that were capable of controlling the very elements as if it were childplay. Because of these powers, the Uzumaki clans bloodline is one of the most coveted in the world. Many have tried to gain an Uzumaki sword, only to fail due to how zealously the secrets of their bloodline was guarded.

During the Third Great Shinobi War, the Uzumaki Clan, which had founded the village of Uzushiogakure No Kuni, a powerful shinobi village even though it was not considered one of the Five Great Nations, had allied itself with Konoha (The Uzumaki Clan had a longstanding friendship with the Senju Clan). Because of the threat they represented, Kiri, Iwa and Kumo launched a simultanious attack on Uzushiogakure. Outnumbered ten to one the Uzumaki Clan didn't stand a chance, the siege lasted for several months, Konoha had tried to send aid but were blocked off by Kiri's large armada of ships. In the end, the Uzumaki Clan had been destroyed, and the few surviving members scattered.

Aside from their powerful kenjutsu and bloodline, the Uzumaki's were well known for the resilience their bodies possessed. Many of the surviving members of the force that had attacked Uzushio would claim that it was like fighting the dead, as no matter how badly damaged an Uzumaki was, they would get right back up and keep fighting.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I got another anonymous review by some guy named grey. Please next time use a real pen name so I don't have to say this in my story. This isn't going to be Naruto forgives everyone. I won't say much since I don't want to give anything away, but all will be explained eventually.**

**A new arch begins, what will our hero face next. Will he be able to end the Civil War? find out next time on Dagon Ball Z...**

**Wait, sorry, wrong anime.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I know I usually come up with some kind of witty, or sarcastic disclaimer, but I'm really not feeling it today. So, I'm just going to tell you that I don't own Naruto, and if you don't like my disclaimer than you can just suck it! Oorah!**

**Chapter 9: Bloodline War**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Ah, there are Arashi-san," Arashi turned from the bar he was sitting on to see Mei smiling at him, "I've been looking for you. We're having a meeting in five minutes and I would like for you to attend."<p>

"And you came to personally get me?" asked Arashi with a smile, "I feel pretty special."

"As you should," Mei said with just a hint of a smile, "now come on."

"Alright then," Arashi drained the liquor that was left in his shot glass, being unable to get drunk thanks to Akane had some benefits, set it back on the table as he stood up and stretched. He followed Mei as she led him down one of the corridors inside the Bloodline factions main base. "Has something happened?" he asked at last, wondering if he might finally take part in an operation.

It had been two months since he had been here and not once had he actually been called on to do anything. Part of the reason he knew was that the war was currently at a sort of stale mate; the Mizukage's forces were too big, their bases too well defended for the Bloodline faction to attack, at the same time the rebels were too well hidden and usually worked in small cells, making it harder for the Mizukage's forces to pinpoint their locations and attack them. Another reason he had not been on any missions was because he was sure that many of the rebels didn't quite trust him yet. There wasn't much in the way of open hostility, but he could see that several people did not truly trust him.

"Maybe," Mei replied as they entered the war room, where all of the plans were made. The room was fairly small, unlike the audience chamber where Mei would address her troops, this room was only large enough to hold about twenty people before it became over crowded. There was a large, square table with a map of Mizu No Kuni on it, and Arashi saw several of what looked like shougi pieces representing the Kiri (Red) and bloodline forces (Blue).

"What is _he_ doing here?" asked one of the people already in the room with a sneer. Shūhei Hisagi was a tall and lean-built man with dark gray eyes, short black hair and three scars straight over his eye that lead down to his right cheek. He also had the number "69" tattooed on his left cheek as well as a blue-striped tattoo running across his left cheek and over the bridge of his nose. He wore a choker around his throat and matching armbands on both upper arms. His clothing consisted of the standard garb of a kiri shinobi, camouflage pants, blue shinobi sandals, and a gray flak jacket. The only difference between his clothes and most jonin was that his shirt was sleeveless.

"He is here because I believe he will be useful for this operation," Mei said in a voice that could cut through steel. Hisagi shut his mouth, knowing better than to question his leaders decision. There was a reason she was in charge of the bloodline faction after all.

She and Arashi made their way over to the table, the red haired swordsman choosing to stand next to Ao. "Now if there are no more people who feel the need to speak out of turn, perhaps we can get started," when no one else around the table spoke she continued. "We've received an important message from our spies in the Capitol. It seems the Daimyo has finally managed to discover Yagura's involvement in the bandit attacks on several of the less populated settlements and decided to let slip to us some vital information."

Bandits were always a problem during a war, especially a ninja war. Many ninja missions centered around clearing out the threat of bandits when they became too much of a problem, but with the two Kiri factions busy fighting each other the bandits who had come to Kiri essentially had free run to rape, pillage and plunder to their hearts desire.

What made this particular problem worse was that Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage, was actually sanctioning these bandit raids. It was a reprehensible act but the fact of the matter was, war cost money. You had to buy food, weapons and supplies, and you had to pay your soldiers. The problem with all of that was that none of that was cheap, and with the shinobi busy fighting a war, there were less forces available for missions. Because of that, praying on innocent civilians was much more lucrative, then taking out bandits. The simple fact was bandits had more money than most civilians, and could pay the shinobi to turn a blind eye to their activities, or to even help them. It was often said that crime paid better than justice.

"This is good as it means that he is now on our side, not only will this give us an advantage in the war, but "when" we win, we will have the backing and support of the Daimyo for when we begin rebuilding the village." When, Not if, she said that as if it was a foregone conclusion. Arashi actually found her confidence not only reassuring, but refreshing as well. Mei paused here to let that information sink in.

"The information we've been given are the departure date of the Quarterly Caravan as well as a list of scheduled checkpoints. For those of you who don't know, the Quarterly Caravan is one of the four annual caravans sent by the Daimyo to fund the village. Needless to say that means a lot of money and a _lot_ of security measures. There should be roughly two hundred ninja guards total, and we suspect they will be split up into at a minimum of three groups. They will most likely use the standard escort formation, one group with the caravan, one group to take up the rear, and another the fore. There is a also a possiblity that they will have several smaller scouting parties as well, which means we will need to be on our guard."

"Our plan of action will be to ambush the caravan at one of the checkpoints; we will be comprised of three teams: a distraction team, an ambush team, and the last team will be an emergency extraction team." The basics of the plan was simple, the distraction team, which would comprise of the main attack force, would draw most of the enemy out with a frontal assault. When most of the enemy had been drawn away from the caravan the ambush team would kill who ever was left behind to guard the caravan and begin unloading the money. The last team was set in case things went south, going off the knowledge that no plan ever survived contact with the enemy and things could very easily get sticky.

Arashi paid attention as Mei and several others began discussing the plan in greater detail, each person adding their own input. He didn't add any of his own advice, not that he had much to add as he had never been in a war before and therefore only had basic knowledge on tactics and battles.

Instead, he spoke with who he had dubbed his inner-vixen, _"what do you think of the chances for success?"_

"_**As good as any other plan,"**_ Akane said, shrugging as she combed her tails. Not that her container could see, **_"the problem is there is no such thing as a sure-fire plan in war. Often times as soon as the attack begins you can be assured that things will go to hell."_**

"_Sounds like you've experienced war,"_ he commented idly while listening to Mei argue with one of her senior officers on which checkpoint they should stage their ambush at.

"_**Of course I have. Remember, I am over two thousand years old, in that time I have seen and been involved in more wars than any human can possibly imagine."**_

Arashi's ears perked up at this, _"how many wars have you been involved in?"_

"**_Several,"_** Akane said, **_"I was involved in several wars in the past."_**

Arashi made to ask a question but Mei's words interrupted him, "Arashi-san, you will be working with Ao's squad, and will take part on the ambush team."

"You can't be serious!" Hisagi shouted, "you want to send him on such an important assignment? How do we know he won't betray us the first chance he gets!"

"You mean aside from the fact that I have a bloodline and would not be welcome in Yagura's forces?" said Arashi, who was honestly getting pissed off at the man constantly questioning his integrity.

"That doesn't matter," Hisagi sneered, "your an outsider, you can't be trusted."

"And your an asshole," Arashi shot back, "but you don't see me complaining."

Hisagi growled, "What was that you little punk!"

"Hisagi!" Mei shouted, her voice radiating authority and displeasure, "I have asked you several times to keep your opinions to yourself and not insult someone who has offered there services." The tall man looked like he was about to say something but Mei spoke again, "if you can't get over your petty problems, than you will not take part in this mission. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hisagi said, looking like he swallowed something foul.

"Good, now I want all of you to prepare, the mission will commence tomorrow at dusk."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Hey there," a gruff voice said from behind Arashi. Turning his head he saw Ao standing behind him.<p>

"What's up Ao-san?" asked Arashi, wondering why the man wasn't getting ready. He himself didn't have any need to get ready, all of his weapons were sealed up into containment seals he had painted on his body, so he had decided to get some fresh air and enjoy the relative peace before the big attack.

"I just figured I'd let you know that you shouldn't let what Hisagi said bother you," Ao looked down at Arashi with his only covered eye. "Hisagi's something of an isolationist, he doesn't believe we need the help of outsiders and had been against the idea of getting aid from Konoha."

Arashi snorted at the mans way of understating the other ninja's issue. When Mei had come back nearly empty handed Hiagi had actually had the gall to ask her if she had 'enjoyed her vacation' as if what she had done was a waist of time and essentially saying I told you so to her face. It had caused quite a few arguments between the two and Arashi had sometimes wondered why Mei didn't just melt the man like she had her enemies.

"Don't worry, I don't take what he said personally," the red head said after some time. "The man's just an idiot, he'll eventually learn to trust me, or I'm liable to shove my foot off in his ass."

Ao seemed to blink at that statement, unsure whether to accept those words at face value. "So long as you don't start anything with him. You know, back in my day..."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Get back here you brat!"<p>

"Wait til I get my hands on you!"

Naruto looked behind him as he ran to see several jonin chasing after him, he stuck out his tongue and pulled down as eyelids, laughing, "you'll never take me alive!"

it was a typical day for Naruto Uzumaki, who had just finished one of his many pranks. The one he had just done was tame compared to the time he got a wild hair up his ass for three weeks and managed to prank several clans as well as the Anbu. They had never caught him for those ones and no one ever realized he was the one who did them.

This particular prank Naruto had made sure they knew he had done it. The young blond had woken up early in the morning and managed to paint the entire Hokage Monument, he had just finished his masterpiece when everyone had taken notice. That was when the chase began.

Looking back in front of him Naruto caught sight of the Hokage Monument and couldn't help but smile at his work. It was the work of a true artist. He had painted the Shodaime Hokage's face into that of a wooden Tiki man, with trees sprouting out of his nose; the Nidaime was crying rivers of tears and had a large bruise on his cheek and a pair of pink, lace panties on his hair; the Sandaime had a large blush staining his cheeks, a perverted smile on his face and blood dripping from his nose, off to the side was a billboard sized picture of the front cover of Icha Icha Paradise; and finally his absolute master piece and very likely the reason the ninja chasing him were so pissed. Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage and his father, had three symmetrical whisker marks running horizontally on each cheek, and on top of his head were two bright gold fox ears. It was a message that was subtle enough that no one would realize what it meant, those that did would likely assume it to be a coincidence, but it would definitely get people to look.

"Just you wait Demon!" one of the shinobi shouted as he chased after the blond, "when I get my hands on you your dead!"

"Then you won't be getting your hands on me!" Naruto shouted with a laugh, "none of you can catch me!" He continued running, using side-streets and back alleys as he outran and outsmarted the jonin after him. No one would even realize that they were being used by him for training. It was a method he had set up to test himself, the pranks he had played on the clans and the ANBU had tested his stealth, while the pranks that were much more showy, like painting the Hokage Monument tested his ability to outrun and outsmart his opposition, like losing a tail when being chased by superior number of enemies on a mission. That, and it was just really funny to watch these fools flounder about in anger.

During the chase Naruto cut through several streets where he had placed numerous traps for the jonin squads to run into. They were all so busy chasing him and their judgment had been clouded by anger that none of them even saw the traps until they had tripped some ninja wire that had been tied taught against the fence and an adjourning tree. By the time they had realized what happened five of the jonin involved in the chase were strung up by the innumerable amount of ninja wire that they suddenly found themselves caught in.

"What the hell!"

"I can't get lose!"

"Someone, cut me down from here!"

Naruto grinned as he heard the cries and continued running.

"Got'cha!" Naruto turned his head back to the front to see one of the jonin lunging for him. The man was about to grab him, however he soon found himself eating a large chunk of wood. "What the hell! Where'd this log come from!"

Naruto snickered from his hiding spot as the ninja threw the log on the ground and ran off. "Never underestimate the power of one under the protection of the log," he muttered as he pulled down his camouflage. He looked around and saw none of the ninja who had been chasing him near, "hehe, what a bunch of losers, thinking they could catch me. Naruto Uzumaki can not be caught by any mere mortal."

"Is that so, Naruto!"

"GAH!" Naruto jumped ten feet in the air as he twisted around and landed on his butt. "Ow," he rubbed his now sore backside and looked up to see the familiar face of his scarred sensei. "Oh, hey Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, the usual, just catching one of my students getting into trouble when he should be in class," Iruka said. "He has blond hair, blue eyes, and is wearing a hidious orange jump suit. You wouldn't happen to have seen him would you, maybe in the mirror, ne Naruto?"

"Nope, haven't seen him, hehehe," Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "well I hope your student manages to find his way to class. If I see him, I'll let him know your looking for him."

Naruto tried to leave but Iruka quickly grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, "oh no you don't, your not getting away that easily Naruto." The scarred chunin began dragging the blond towards the Hokage monument.

"Ack! Iruka-sensei, let go, I have to get to class!" Naruto tried.

"Nice try, since you already missed half the lesson than it won't matter if you miss the rest to clean the monument," Iruka said, not budging an inch. "And you'll have to do it all by hand."

"WHAT! That's not fair sensei!"

"Yeah, well, life's not fair. Now come on."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Terumi-Sama, this Ao, we have a situation B," Ao said into his field communicator as Arashi pulled his blade out of the enemy shinobi he had just pierced through the neck. "I repeat, situation B, there are twelve scouting parties around the caravan, my squad just ran afoul of one."<p>

Arashi didn't question how the man knew about the scouts, he had already seen Ao's Byakugan and knew the man was constantly using it to look ahead for any signs of hostiles.

"_Shhhht... roger that, they'll need to be dealt with before we can move onto the plan. Can you have your men take care of them? Over."_

"I'll have them get right on it, over," Ao replied. He moved his hand from his com. Piece and looked at his squad, "we need to take care of the rest of the advanced scouts. We'll be splitting up into groups of two, I want you to take out the squads quietly, we can't afford to alert the enemy to our presence." The man looked over at the red head, "Arashi, your with me."

"That's fine," Arashi said. Ao's squad, along with two others, split up. Arashi moved to follow the blue haired hunter ninja, moving deftly through the trees until the man stopped and held up a hand.

"One of the scouting squads is thirteen meters south of us," he said as his eye scanned the surroundings. Looking to where he had indicated, Arashi saw several figures moving through the trees. Four Kirigakure ninja, one jonin and two chunin by the looks of them.

"I'll take care of this," he whispered, receiving a nod from Ao before he sunk into the shadows. One of the many abilities he had gotten from his blade was the ability to move between the shadows, it was called Kagetoho (Shadow Walking) and was an ability that made the Nara's shadow manipulation abilities seem like a pale imitation of true shadow jutsu.

As the squad stopped to scout the area, Arashi used the opportunity to slip into the foremost ninja's shadow. "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Ken'in Yomi (Uzuamaki Secrete Technique: Dark Release: Pull of the Underworld)," the whispered technique went unheard by the kiri ninja, as it was impossible to hear someone who was inside of a shadow. However, the man did notice when the shadow grabbed him and sucked him down, the man would have shouted in surprise but a shadow had covered his mouth and he could do nothing as he was dragged into the shadow.

The other three turned around and blinked when they didn't see there comrade. Just as they were about to reach for their walkies, Arashi came up from behind one of the enemy shinobi. Before he had a chance to react the man was pierced in the throat, gurgling up blood as he died. "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Kage Shoyaiba (Uzumaki Hijutsu: Dark Release: Many Shadow Blades)," the other two didn't even have time to shout as two shadow like tendrils flew out from the tip of Arashi's blade, piercing them through the head and heart respectively. Arashi pulled out his blade and swiped the blood off with a flick of his wrist.

Ao whistled appreciatively as he saw how quickly and efficiently the young swordsman had dealt with the threat, "you Uzumaki sure are something."

"Of course, why do you think we were so feared during the Third Great Shinobi War?" asked Arashi, the question was rhetorical and Ao didn't deign to give a response.

"Let's take out another squad, we need to get rid of them before the caravan moves to the next checkpoint."

"Right."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi was crouched down on the balls of his feet, using his hands to keep his balance as he stood on the tree. Next to him was Ao and a little behind them was the man's squad, they were just one of the squads that had been assigned to the ambush team, which was comprised of a total of five teams of four. The teams were a mile out from the caravan checkpoint, and were awaiting the signal to begin their mission.<p>

The last squad to get back from taking out the scouting parties had just gotten back not ten minutes ago.

"You know what to do when the fireworks start?" asked Ao, he had already asked the question several times, likely it was an attempt to hide his nerves at working with a person he didn't know. Most shinobi squads tended to grow fairly close and having a new member usually messed with team dynamics.

"I'll go in and hit them hard with my kenjutsu and take out as many of the enemy as possible and get them to focus on me before the main force gets there," Arashi grunted. The Uzumaki Style Kenjutsu was specifically designed to fight off multiple enemies at once by using fast, overpowering attacks to wipe out the enemy, that was why it was the Issei No Ryuuken was considered one of the most powerful sword styles in the world.

Ao grunted his agreement with Arashi's assessment, "once the signal starts, move in fast and hit hard. Your our point man."

"Understood."

the worst part about war, Arashi reflected as he crouched there with Ao and his ninja squad, was the waiting. Combat between Shinobi had a lot of waiting involved, it wasn't like Samurai battles, where two large forces met and clashed on an open plain. Shinobi warfare was about gathering information, espionage and taking the enemy by surprise, all of which required a lot of patients and waiting. The only time shinobi battled in the open was during an invasion.

"_We are beginning our attack, wait ten minutes for the enemy numbers to thin before commencing you own run. Over" _Arashi looked over at Ao, due to his sensitive hearing he was able to pick out everything Mei had said.

"Roger that, we'll commence our run in ten, over," Ao turned his head set off and looked at the squads of ninja. "Terumi-Sama is beginning her attack, we'll start in ten minutes when the shinobi guards have thinned."

Arashi stood up and closed his eyes, doing his best to calm down his rapidly beating heart. This would be his first true taste of war, and he could not help but admit, even if only to himself, that he was feeling nervous. So many things could go wrong with this plan, for all they knew it already was going wrong and they were walking into a trap. There was no telling what the outcome of this battle would be, the whole planned hinged on whether of not the intel they received was accurate.

"_**Relax," **_Akane's soothing voice came over his mind, **_"do not let your mind wander too much, especially to that kind of thinking. Focus only on the mission, try to block out all other thoughts and questions, lest they unravel you before the battle even starts."_**

"_Right, sorry,"_ Arashi apologized in a sheepish voice.

"_**Silly man," **_Akane giggled a little at her container, **_"there is no need to apologize. I am happy to help you."_**

Arashi relaxed as he felt some of the tension in between his shoulder blades slip, _"Thank you."_

"It's time," Ao stood up and everyone else followed suit, "let's begin."

The five teams took off, traveling at the fastest pace they could go while still remaining silent. It wasn't long before they reached the caravan. The caravan consisted of a dozen carriages with horses pulling them, and the shinobi forces had been reduced from what was likely around one hundred strong, to just thirty.

Arashi was the first one to enter the fight, it was his job to keep the Mizukage's forces focused on him so the rest could come in from behind. His sword, Hikage Ookami was already out and singing as he cut through the first enemy in his way. He didn't even feel any give on his blade as he severed cloth, flesh and bone as he sliced through the enemy shinobi. The man screamed out in pain and Arashi kicked him away, sending him flying into two other enemy ninja.

The enemy forces soon noticed him but before they could do anything Arashi had already gone through several hand seals and spat out a dozen decent sized fireballs, most of them were dodged and exploded against the ground, leaving five foot long craters. However, the few that managed to actually hit an enemy ninja set them ablaze, lighting them up as if they had been doused in lighter fluid.

"Suiton: Baku Suishouha (Water Release: Bursting Water Collision Waves)!" Arashi turned just in time to see one of the enemy jonin expelling a large amount of water. Before it could expand and sweep him away, Arashi had Akane channel her youki to his throat where he expelled searing white blaze of fire that was so hot the entire earth was glassed as it burned a path to the man using the jutsu.

Normally, when a jutsu made from an opposing element his used against the element it is weak against, that jutsu would usually be destroyed, or if the jutsu was particularly strong they would both cancel each other out. However the fire that the red head had just used was the Kitsune-bi (Fox Fire) and was the true form of the Amaterasu, the black flames of the Uchiha Clan that could only be accessed by gaining the Mangekyo Sharingan. The Kitsune-bi smashed into the water from the jonin's jutsu and completely overtook it, evaporating the water before it could actually form into an attack. It continued on and struck the jonin, who barely even had time to scream as it burned his entire body, turning it to ash. The jutsu continued on it's way, burning everything in it's path until Arashi stopped channeling Akane's youki.

"_**Your very lucky that that ningen wasn't near one of the carriages,"**_ Akane commented, not that she actually cared but seeing as how it was his mission to get what was inside of them, she didn't want him destroying them accidentally and failing his mission.

"_Which was why I did it,"_ Arashi replied, even as he began attacking the other shinobi who were still recovering from the shock of seeing such an intense fire jutsu. He was actually impressed that they were still responding so well, attacking even when he could see the shock clearly written on their faces. Then again, most of these ninja were experienced jonin. _"Had that attack struck, it would have hit the caravan behind me. I'm surprised that ninja would so carelessly use a jutsu like that, especially in a battle where he was fighting with a team that could have been hurt just as easily as me."_

"_**I think you just wanted to be flashy,"**_ Akane quipped with a smirk as she saw Arashi smash the pommel of his hilt into a kunoichi's head. Shaking her own head she smiled at her containers sense of moral's, they were a little odd but she wouldn't have him any other way.

"_Well I do like showing how awesome I am," _Arashi smirked, _"that's why all my pranks are so bad bass."_

conversation continued along this vein as Arashi continued attacking the enemy shinobi, sometime during their chat, Ao and the rest of the squad had joined the battle and were attacking the surprised enemy from behind since all their attention had been on Arashi. It was less then fifteen minutes later that the battle had ended, Ao and Arashi moved up to one of the Carriages to begin unloading. They opened the door only to find it empty.

"What the hell!" said Ao as he looked inside the carriage, "how did I miss this! My Byakugan should have noticed that there was nothing inside!"

Arashi didn't comment, he was much more interested in the seals that were surrounding the inside of the carriage along the floor, walls and ceiling. As he studied them he saw several begin to glow and his eyes widened, "Move it Ao!" he grabbed the man by his robe and jumped away just as the carriage exploded. It wasn't just the one they were at either, all around them the other eleven blew up, many of the ninja who were checking them did not make it and were consumed by the blast.

"What the hell..." Ao muttered in shock as his mind slowly realized what was going on, "we've been betrayed! This whole thing was a trap!"

"Seems like it," while his voice was calm, on the inside Arashi was swearing up a storm. It bothered him that he hadn't even suspected a trap, at least not of this caliber. However, he also knew that getting angry wouldn't help him or the bloodline rebels. "If they knew about our plans in enough detail to plan this, then that means the trap is unlikely for us."

Ao frowned, "what do you... Terumi-Sama!"

"This trap was most likely a concerted effort to take her out," Arashi agreed, "come on, have your men get moving, we need to get to Mei."

"What about the extraction team?" asked Ao as he stood up.

"If this was a trap designed to take out Mei then the extraction team is as good as dead, if their not already," Arashi replied. Had this been his plan he would have taken the extraction team out as quickly and quietly as possible, that way the main force would expect back-up to come only to slowly realize they were on their own. "Now let's move it before the main force is destroyed."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>As Mei watched a large number of enemy ninja stream in from all sides all she could do was swear, loudly, and vocally. The battle had started off well enough, her group had surprised the enemy forces and began battling them, drawing attention away from the caravan as they decimated the front wave of kiri troops. However, after two hours into the battle nearly three hundred enemy shinobi began to stream into the field, catching her own group completely unawares. Now she and the fifty survivors of her team were fighting for their lives against the three hundred strong force.<p>

She knew what was happening of course, Mei could tell when she had been played a fool. Yagura had somehow gotten wind about her plan and laid a trap for them, and she walked right into it.

"Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Projectile)!"

Mei watched as a dozen sharp, fang-like projectiles of water came towards her and her comrades. She went through a myriad of hand seals and then slammed her hands into the ground, "Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall)!" a giant earth wall rose up from the ground to intercept the coming attack. The wall shook and rumbled as the water fangs tried to drill through it but were unsuccessful. By that time Mei had already put the jutsu out of her mind and was moving in to help her troops take care of the enemy shinobi.

She entered battle with the first enemy she saw, a kunoichi that was charging at her. She dodged the first strike before lashing out with an attack of her own, kicking the other woman hard enough to send her flying into one of the kunoichi's own comrade's. Mei shook her head at the stupidity of some ninja, you never attack a target that is superior to yourself head on.

Mei ran up to another enemy ninja and was quick to lash out with a reverse heel that caught the man in the throat, not only was he thrown back by the kick, but Mei could hear the snap of a neck. She soon found herself double teamed as two jonin tried to gut her with a kunai. She swept one of the lunged hands aside and retaliated with a knife edge that caught the man in the throat. He would have staggered back but Mei still had a grip on his hand and she spun around and used him as a shield, letting the other shinobi stab his own partner. She then pushed the now dying shinobi into the other man who had attacked her, using him as a distraction as she pulled out a kunai and sent it into the mans head with a flick of her wrist. The man fell back without even letting out a cry.

There was no time to celebrate however as the battle raged on. Mei ended up losing track of how long she had been fighting, weaving in and out of the range of her attackers, launching powerful strikes, most of which would kill her opponents in one hit. It was unfortunate for her that she was in an environment of mixed forces, with many of her own battling she couldn't afford to use any of her Kekkei Genkei jutsu, lest she hit one of her own ninja.

"Terumi-Sama!" Mei didn't even bother turning attention away from her fight as several chakra hammers smashed into some of the enemy shinobi near her and Choujuro ran to her side with Hiramekarei swinging. Thanks to the power of the great blade and the skill the young man was able to wield it with, he managed to take out multiple enemies in a single swing. Soon enough the blue haired young man was right next to her and they were fighting side-by-side, "This isn't looking good, Terumi-Sama!"

"I know!" Mei yelled out over the din of battle, "it seems we've been played!"

As the young rebel leader was about to loose hope, help arrived in the form of Ao and Arashi, along with the other survivors of the ambush gone wrong. Ao came in hard, kunai in hand as he used his Byakugan to keep any of the enemy ninja around him from sneak attacking. Meanwhile, Arashi was a blur of motion, his sword was out and could be seen as nothing more than a flash of light. He zipped through the line of enemy shinobi, running them through like a hot knife through butter as he made his way towards Mei.

"Mei-san!" he called whilst ducking under a kunai swipe and then lashing out with his sword, slicing the shinobi that had attacked him in half. "This plan has gone down the drain! We need to retreat!"

"I know!" Mei said, jumping back as two ninja tried to double team them, right before she lashed out with twin kicks that snapped both of their necks. "All forces retreat! This battle is lost! Retreat!"

"I'll cover our retreat!" Arashi said as he threw himself into the battle with fervor, determined to make sure that he saved as many of his allies as possible. At any other time Mei would have ordered him not to do something so foolish, but as it was there weren't that many options and so she simply continued fighting her way out of the battle with her forces.

Arashi found himself weaving through a hailstorm of fists, feet, kunai and swords as he attacked the enemy forces head on. Spinning around in a one hundred and eighty degree pivot, his blade began to grow a bright white as he used its ability to use light chakra. The blade sung as it sliced through steel and flesh and bones with equal impunity.

Several more ninja attacked him and as he continued to block their attacks, Arashi ended up getting stabbed through the back. However, rather then bleed and die as was the normal for one who just got stabbed, Arashi exploded, sending all the enemy ninja who were near him sailing. Many of the Kiri forces ended up crashing into their own comrades, their bodies severely damaged with third degree burns.

The real Arashi then revealed himself by rising from the shadow of one kunoichi, chopping her in the back of the neck and sending her to the ground. Before the enemy could detect his presence he slipped back into the shadows, thus became the game of cat in mouse as the red haired shinobi would rise from one of his enemies shadows and attack, only to slip back away before anyone could attack in return. It wasn't long before he stopped, realizing that if he used his ability to much someone was likely to find out about it's weakness. Coming back behind another opponent he cut their head clean off, just as nearly one hundred more Arashi phased into existence.

The sight of so many of the same ninja appearing at once seemed to unnerve some of the enemy, since creating that many clones at once was unheard of. However, that did not stop them from attacking, hoping to take out this new threat so they could catch up to the rebel forces that by now were long gone. It wasn't until the first clone was killed that the Mizukage's forces soon discovered that these were no ordinary clones. A kunoichi had manged to pierce one clone through the neck with her sword, only to discover how bad of a mistake doing that was when the clone exploded in her face, sending her, as well as several of her comrades flying. This of course, set of a chain reaction due to several other clones being in the blast radius, and soon enough the entire battlefield had descended into chaos as Yagura's forces were tossed about by the explosions with impunity.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Do you think the kid is alright back there?" asked Ao as all the forces who had managed to escape were running through the forest.<p>

"I don't know," Mei worried her bottom lip in concern, "I hope he makes it." The only reason they had been able to get out of that jam was because Arashi had decided to hold them off, somehow, he had managed to do so and only a few enemy ninja had escaped his near suicidal attack run, and they had been easily dealt with.

"Y-you don't think Arashi-san is... dead, do you?" asked Choujuro, he didn't really know the young man that well, but the fact that he had helped them escape from that mess put him up a notch in his book.

"Kami I hope I'm not dead, that would totally suck." Several people literally jumped, even as they pulled out weapons in case the person who had just spoke was an enemy. They were all relieved and slightly annoyed when they saw the person was the man who they were talking about.

"Don't do that Arashi-san!" Mei said as she held a hand to her chest, feeling her heart pumping a bit both from the recent battle and the light scare Arashi had given her.

"Sorry," he apologized with a grin that made it hard to tell if he was serious or not.

"Your not sorry," Mei mumbled so low only Arashi was able to hear, causing his grin to widen.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Naruto grinned as he made his way into class, the new school year was starting and though he was loath to actually attend, he knew appearances had to be kept. That was why he was made after all.<p>

Slamming the door open with his usual loud bang, he walked into the room and chose a seat next to Sasuke. The Uchiha only gave him a passing glance before he went back to brooding his only thoughts being, _Kill...I will kill Itachi, he will die by my hands...mmm, tomatoes._

I know, weird.

As Naruto was sitting their with the large, dopy grin he was so well known for by now the sound of stampeding feet soon reached the classroom. The door burst open and Ino and Sakura tried to shove each other out of the others way.

"GET BACK INO-PIG!" Screeched Sakura, her voice so loud that the windows rattled and Kiba and Akamaru had to hold their ears as they began to bleed. "I NEED TO GET THROUGH SO I CAN SIT NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN!"

"HAH! AS IF, I'M GOING TO BE THE ONE SITTING NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN, NOT YOU FOREHEAD!" Shouted Ino as the two continued to fight over who would get to sit next to their "Sasuke-kun". The battle took nearly ten minutes before the two just shoved each other through the door and rushed over to where Sasuke was sitting.

Naruto quickly stood up and intercepted Sakura before she could sit down, "Hey Sakura-chan, how would you like to go on a date with -"

"SHUT UP NARUTO NO BAKA! I WANT TO SIT NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura shrieked in his ears as she smashed a fist into his head, sending the poor blond to the ground. The pink haired howler monkey then noticed that Ino had already claimed the spot next to Sasuke and instantly became irate. She smashed another fist on top of the recovering Naruto, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! NOW I CAN'T SIT NEXT TO SASUKE-KUN!" with that she stalked off, finding a spot next to the ever shy and turtle-like Hinata.

_Kami! I'm really beginning to hate the boss for choosing her as his 'crush', that damned howler monkey is a menace,_ Naruto thought as he rubbed the large lump on his head. He stood up and sat back down in his seat as Iruka and Mizuki came in to begin their lesson.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Naruto had a soft smile on his face as his head was resting in the lap of Akane, who had taken to gently running one of her hands through his hair. This had become a common thing for the two of them to do, during the past several years they had gotten much closer. When ever she wasn't training him Akane would either, tease him using her body to try and get a reaction out of him, often times resulting in the young blond gaining a major blush, due to his age he had only recently started getting nosebleeds, though even then it was only in his mind as his body still had not hit puberty. Or moments like now, where she would let Naruto rest against her.<p>

Akane had long since stopped denying to herself that she was actually in love with this boy, despite only being almost ten years old he was much more mature than most his age, usually. That maturity was actually reflected by the mental image he projected in his mindscape, which was actually fifteen, and was the only reason his mindscape image could pass out from a nosebleed. However, she knew that it was still not the right time for her to express her feelings for the boy, while he may be older in his mind than he was physically, he was still a nine, going on ten year old boy. Even though Akane herself didn't care about age, since if she went by age appropriateness than she would be too old for even the oldest human, Naruto still wasn't ready to enter any kind of relationship with her. Not that that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy what they did have.

"**You seem tired," **she noted softly, getting Naruto to crack one of his gorgeous blue eyes open.

He smiled at her before yawning, "what gave it away?"

"**Perhaps the fact that your not your usual bundle of energy,"** Akane said, **"normally, I would be beating the shit out of you during sparring right now."**

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her before yawning again, he soon snuggled himself a little deeper into her lap. Akane let out a soft squeak and slight moan when her container accidentally rubbed up against her sacred spot, getting Naruto to open his eyes once again. He was slightly amused to see a blush staining the beautiful demoness' cheeks, normally it he who was blushing. Although, he couldn't for the life of him figure out what she was blushing about.

"You ok, Akane-chan?" asked Naruto, "your face is getting red."

"**I-I'm fine," **she stuttered, trying to get her mind back on track. She knew Naruto hadn't done that on purpose, but it was hard for her to just sit there and pretend nothing had happened. A part of her was telling her not to let the accident go unpunished and prank the poor boy by teaching him some more about the female anatomy. Another part was screaming at her to strip the boy down and have her way with him, too young be damned. It took a concerted amount of effort, but she eventually managed to get herself under control.

Of course, it was right as she managed to calm herself that Naruto said something else, "ne, Akane-chan, do you smell that?" the blond took several deep sniffs of the air, "it smells like... honey."

Akane made several choking noises as her face took on a new hue of red. She was not embarrassed about Naruto smelling her arousal, but it was now taking a very intense effort for her to bring her pheromone levels and hormones under control. The boy was pushing all of her buttons and didn't even realize it.

"**I'm not sure what your talking about," **Akane said, keeping her cool as she went back to playing with his hair. **"I don't smell anything."**

"Must be my imagination then," Naruto frowned, he could still smell that delicious honey scent. Still, maybe he was just smelling something that was coming from outside the seal. It didn't matter anyways, so he put it into the back of his mind and decided to change topics, "so how do you think I did for my first true battle?"

"**You know the one you were in when you first came here could be considered your first true taste of war,"** Akane said.

"No," Naruto frowned in thought and then shook his head, "we spent most of the time running, and while I definitely fought it was more or less alone. I meant being part of a unit."

"**Ah,"** the red haired vixen nodded her head in understanding, **"I have to say you did very well for yourself. You showed talent and kept your cool even when you found out that you had all been led into a trap. And you showed great physical prowess when you covered your comrades retreat."** Akane smiled down at him and Naruto blushed at seeing the pride in her eyes, **"you performed well above and beyond my expectations."**

"Hehe, thank Akane-chan," Naruto gave the vixen a grin so wide his eyes became squinted, making him look like a fox.

_**Kawaii! **_Akane thought as her mind let out a very fan-girl like squeal. Just then the two of them felt a presence outside of the seal. **"Seems someone is trying to wake you,"** Akane frowned at the thought of someone taking her Naruto-time.

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, before giving Akane another smile, "I'll come back later though."

Akane watched as he disappeared from her lap and sighed, she decided that since Naruto was no longer here, she might as well get some sleep.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Arashi-san... Arashi-san," Arashi woke up to the sight of Choujuro standing over him.<p>

"I'm up, I'm up," Arashi said as he sat up in the bed and let out a large yawn, stretching his hands over his head as high as they would go. He twisted his body so that his feet were now over the side of the bed, resting on the cold tiled floor as he looked up at his fellow swordsman. "So what's up?"

"Terumi-Sama has called a meeting and wants you to attend," Choujuro told him, getting a nod from the young man who stood up.

"Thanks for telling me, just let me get dressed and I'll be right out," the blue haired man nodded and left, leaving Arashi alone. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused, causing the air to ripple around him before his standard set of clothes while in this guise appeared. He really would have to find some way to thank Akane for this ability, shape shifting was far more useful than the henge. Not only that, but unlike the henge it would only deactivate when he let it, otherwise he stayed in what ever form he changed into indefinitely. It was damn useful for times like this.

Walking outside he saw that Choujuro had waited for him, together the two of them walked down the hall and made their way to the war room. The sound of shouting reached Arashi's enhanced hearing long before they got there, and the scene they came upon was not very awe-inspiring. Currently, Hisagi looked like he had gotten into another argument with Mei, he had a good idea what they were arguing about and his thoughts were soon confirmed by the man's words.

"It's obvious that he's a spy! First you get attacked on the way back from Konoha, and now we just lost one third of our troops in a trap. This is Arashi is obviously a spy working for Yagura!"

"And pray tell, why would you think that?" asked Arashi as he walked up to join Mei.

Hisagi sneered at him, "it's obvious that your the one who betrayed information to Yagura, you come here and all of a sudden everything go's to shit!"

"Wow," Arashi said in a voice that sounded mockingly impressed, "your pretty good at the whole baseless accusation thing aren't you?" When a scowl crossed the other man's face the red head continued, "also, you do realize that I have a bloodline, right? Aside from the fact that Yagura would not accept help from me, what could I possibly have to gain by joining him?"

"I don't know," Hisagi said with a glare, "what do you have to gain from joining him?"

Arashi rolled his eyes, "if your trying to use some form of reverse psychology I think I should tell you that its not working." He raised an eyebrow and looked at the man with a smirk, "you know, your pretty quick to jump the gun and point fingers. You aren't hiding anything are you?"

"Your accusing me of being a traitor!" Hisagi scoffed, "That's rich."

Arashi shrugged, "you said it not me. But why don't we look at the facts, you didn't agree with Mei's decision to request aid from Konoha, you have done everything possible short of outright mutiny to undermine Mei-san's authority, you seem to dislike me for the simple fact that I'm an outsider. Oh! And let's not forget that your the only non-bloodline holder who was privy to the information we gained from the Daimyo." the red head swordsman smirked at him, "seems to me that your more likely to betray the Bloodline faction than anyone."

"What!" Hisagi shouted angrily, he looked around to see many of the people there looking at him with something akin to suspicion. "You can't all believe him can you! He's just trying to divide us so that we'll be easier to defeat!"

"Those are some serious accusations, Arashi-san," Mei said, eying him with a calculating expression. "I hope you have proof of his treachery."

"No more proof than he did when accusing me," Arashi said, "and I wasn't actually accusing anyone, merely stating facts based on my observations."

"Still... your... observations hold some merit," Mei mumbled, more to herself than anyone else but everyone still heard it.

"You can't be serious Mei-Sama!" cried Hisagi, "he's obviously trying to turn you against me! Then he'll ensnare you in his web and kill you when its most convenient!"

"Ok, first off," Arashi started angrily, he was seriously getting pissed of at this guy. "If I had wanted her dead than don't you think I would have just left her during our last mission? If I was truly working with the Mizukage than that would have been the perfect time to literally destroy the bloodline faction."

"W-what do you mean?" asked Choujuro.

Arashi turned to look at the shy and under-confident swordsman, "Think about it, without Mei this entire operation would fall apart." The red head held up a hand and began ticking off his reasons, "first, Mei is far more powerful than anyone else here, out of all of the ninja on this side she is the only one strong enough to possibly face a Kage. Second, no one else has her leadership abilities, Ao might have the experience, but he simply doesn't have her charismatic presence, no one does." Mei actually gained a light blush at the fierce way Arashi defended her position and listed her abilities. It was almost funny because she knew he was just speaking his thoughts in as blunt a manner as possible, which in a way was what made the mans words so flattering.

"And lastly, Mei is the only one who is capable of bringing Kiri to even greater heights than it had been in the past," finished with his assessment of the woman in charge of the rebellion Arashi shrugged. "Without her, this whole rebellion would fall apart, maybe not right away, but in the end it would. It's a simple scenario of 'cut the head and the body will fall'."

Hisagi's face had been getting increasingly red with anger as Arashi spoke, he opened his mouth to speak when someone beat him to it. "That's enough," Mei said in a firm voice that made everyone stop and turn to her. "While I appreciate your assessment of me, Arashi, I believe you need to stop taunting Hisagi." Arashi looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he simply nodded. "And Hisagi," Mei turned to him and for once, she wasn't smiling, "while I do not wish to believe you would betray your comrades we have to look at the facts at the moment. They all point towards you so far."

"You would believe that, that outsider over me!" Hisagi asked in rage.

"It's not a matter of believing one person over another," Mei stated firmly, "it's about looking at the evidence and making decisions based on that."

"What evidence!" Hisagi asked, "there is no evidence that I've betrayed you!"

"There's no evidence that he has either," Mei pointed out, "yet you still accused him. For now, I want you to stay in confinement, I will have guards posted at your door, you are only allowed to leave your room with an escort."

By the time Mei had finished Hisagi had his fists clenched so hard they were bleeding. "Fine!" he ground out before stalking away, slamming the door on his way out.

"Ao, please make sure he stays in his room," Mei ordered softly.

"Of course Mei-sama," Ao hurried out the door to follow the angry ninja.

Mei turned back to the others in the room, "until all of this has been sorted out we'll be suspending our operations. We can't make any plans until we know for sure who is leaking out information to Yagura."

There were nods of agreement from everyone in the room, it was upsetting that they would not be able to do anything, but until the traitor was found they could not afford to act. Just than a young chunin burst through the door, "Terumi-Sama! The town of Gokiwa is under attack by Yagura's forces!"

"What!" Mei demanded in surprise as she stood up, Gokiwa was one of the towns where the families of the bloodline faction lived. Because of the offensive they had taken the town was only lightly guarded. "Damn it!" she turned to Choujuro, "we need to send aid immediately! Take four squads with you!"

"I'll go as well," Arashi said in a determined voice.

Mei looked at him in surprise, "Arashi..."

"They'll need all the help they can get, and you know how good I am," he said.

Mei worried her lips as she deliberated, he had not yet given her a reason to doubt him, yet she could not let the possibility that Hisagi was right go. In the end, she knew he was quite possibly one of the strongest people she had on hand and they needed that strength. "Very well," she decided at last. "You are to go with Choujuro and lend aid to the town."

"Ma'am!" Arashi said, before he looked at Choujuro. The two of them shared a quick message of understanding and nodded. They ran out the door to get a squad together while Mei stood there looking worried.

* * *

><p><strong>The war is heating up. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.<strong>

**A/N: So I have something really funny to share with everyone. I recieved a review for my last chapter a little while ago by The-Sand-Jinchuuriki-Jirrue, it said something like this:**

**My stomach is far too quezy to finish the last Chapter so I'm going to put it here. **

**No real complaints since it has decent length and excellent spelling. HOWEVER, I'm getting really sick of this pansy charade you keep him going on.**

**It needs to fucking stop! **

**I get enough of that happy go lucky, I'll be Hokage stomach wrenching bullshit from the show and I certainly don't need that horseshit here either.**

**Knock it off you wimpy, pansy ass bleeding heart!**

**People like you that get killed off in this world so easily because of your goddamn bleeding hearts. Grow a pair.**

**I'm not really sure where this anymosity is coming from since there was only one part in this chapter where Naruto acted like this. The beginning. After that the only thing the Chi. Naruto does are pranks, and many of them are rather viscious and downright mean. I do take slight offense to being called a pansy ass bleeding heart, in sparring me and my friends often beat the living shit out of each other and are rather violent so I don't think I'm a bleeding heart. But other than that I thought the review was kind of funny and thought I would share it with the masses. Anyway, peace out.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: In pursuit of freedom and happiness I have deemed it my life goal to steal the rights to Naruto, then I will rule the world! MWAHAHAHA!**

**Ahem, but until then, I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 10: Traitor**

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><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>Arashi and Choujuro sped through the forest at a breakneck pace as they ran towards the town of Gokiwa. Even without knowing the directions to the small village it would have been easy for them to find due to the smoke that was rising from its general direction.<p>

When the two burst through the treeline and into the town, both of them stopped cold. What had once seemed like a very peaceful settlement was now in ruins; fires were burning everywhere, buildings were gutted out or had collapsed completely, and bodies filled the street. What made the whole scene worse were that the bodies of the dead were not shinobi, no, they were civilians. Innocent woman and children who had done no wrong, who's only crime, according to the Mizukage, was being born into a clan with a bloodline. Arashi could feel his entire body shaking as he stared at the terrible scene before him.

"How could someone do this?" Arashi's voice came out as a harsh whisper. After everything he had been through in the past few years, he had thought things like death couldn't affect him. But the sight before him, a scene of woman and children who had been cut down where they stood, made his blood boil like none other. "What kind of monster is the Mizukage?"

"_**Careful,"**_ Akane's voice came over their link, **_"if you let your emotions slip you may end up accidentally channeling some of my youki. You can't let people know that you hold me."_**

Arashi heard Akane's words and closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths. His shaking stopped and he unclenched his fists, feeling liquid on his hands the red head looked down and saw that his nails had been cutting into his flesh. Sighing, he wiped his hands on his pants, the wound had already healed over.

"A-are you ok, Arashi-san?" asked Choujuro. He was a little concerned when he saw the way the other man was looking, while he himself was angry and saddened by what he saw, his emotions were running no where near as high as the ones Arashi had.

"No, no I'm not," Arashi sighed, "how could anyone be ok when they see something like this? But I'll give." A hardened look entered his eyes, "come on, lets see if we can't find any survivors."

The two walked through the town, Arashi made several dozen Kage Bunshin to bring out the bodies so they could be sealed into scrolls and returned to their loved ones for a proper burial. As he continued moving through the burnt out buildings, occasionally checking the inside if it looked safe enough, he heard a sound that he had not heard in a while. It was the sound of crying.

With his enhanced senses Arashi was able to easily find the source of he crying, in one of the gutted out buildings. It was a two story house, and the crying was coming from the second story.

Arashi walked into the house carefully, with how torn down it was, even the slightest mishap could cause the entire house to come down around his ears. After moving around the house, going through a door and into a hallway, he found the staircase leading up. Several times, Arashi had been forced to take a step back as he walked up the stairs, they weren't all that sturdy and a few of them had given out on him when he stepped on them. Because of how cautious he had to be it took several minutes to get to the second floor.

The crying was closer now, coming from the door to the first room on the right. He made careful, precise steps, letting the sound of the creaking floor wash over him in order to hopefully give him an advanced warning when the floor was about to collapse. When he got into the room with the crying he was surprised to find the area was mostly intact; the wall to the left had crumbled, there was a whole in the far right side of the room, but other then that it looked much more whole then any of the other places he had seen.

In the left hand corner there was a small crib that Arashi walked up to, the source of the crying was inside. A small baby with dark brown fuzz on his head and brown eyes. Arashi gently lifted the little newborn into his arms and tried to sooth the thing by rocking it back and forth. "It's ok little one," he whispered as the baby began to stop crying, "nothing can hurt you now, your safe."

The baby must have spent the last several hours tiring itself out with his crying, because after a few minutes of Arashi having picked him up, he went to sleep. Not wanting to risk injuring the baby by going back down through the house, Arashi formed a clone and had it kicked out the window. He jumped down and channeled chakra to his feet, cushioning his fall. He stood back up from the crouch he had landed in and looked at the house he had found the baby in, then shook his head and began moving on, searching for more survivors.

He made a Kage Bunshin and had it take the small baby, that way he could continue his search without having to worry. "Go and find Choujuro," he told the clone quietly, "stick with him as much as possible." The Kage Bunshin nodded and went off.

Arashi went into one of the few houses that was still standing, standing being a relative term. The house, like most others was completely gutted, the back wall had been destroyed and rubble from the walls and furniture was strewn about all over the place. There wasn't much there and so the red haired swordsman moved to the back, and it was there he found something interesting.

There was a very small amount of chakra in the air, it was small enough that only sensors would be likely to notice it. Arashi was thankful that Akane was sealed inside of him because she was far better than any sensor type shinobi, and had noticed the chakra almost immediately. He placed his hands in the ram seal and sent out a pulse of chakra in order to dispel what was most likely a genjutsu of some kind. A frown made its way onto his face however, when nothing happened.

He tried several more times, sending out larger and larger pulses of chakra. Each time he was met with failure. He wondered why the jutsu wasn't dispelling, normally, when an area wide genjutsu was used it took a pulse of chakra larger than the one powering the jutsu to dispel. Arashi was easily using three times more then what he felt being used here, so it should have worked.

"_**Hang on a second,"**_ Akane said, speaking up as she began channeling her youki into Arashi's chakra coils. **_"I'm directing my youki through, I want you to channel it to your eyes."_**

Arashi raised an eyebrow in curiosity but shrugged it off, said, _"got it,"_ and did as instructed. The world began to move into focus, his sight got sharper, everything became clearer, and he could see small particles of blue floating through the air. _Is that chakra?_ He wondered in shock.

"_**Yes,"**_ Akane answered him, **_"What you see are chakra particles that are being emitted in the air by what ever jutsu is being used here. Now, hurry up and find out how to dispel the jutsu, my youki hasn't fully integrated with you yet so channeling this much to an organ as sensitive as your eyes will damage them if given enough time."_**

"_Right,"_ Arashi began looking around for something that may help him determine why he couldn't dispel the genjutsu. It was then he noticed something looked out of place under all the rubble, this house was made of brick, but there was some wood sticking out from under all of the refuse. Moving over he began throwing the large chunks of brick away from his discovery, and soon found that the small piece of wood he had seen was actually a part of a large door that was set into the ground, obviously leading towards a basement level. And on the door was a fuiinjutsu he had not seen before, but he could make out what it was and did thanks to his knowledge telling him that some of the seal matched one of his own genjutsu seals.

This one was obviously to make this door appear invisible to others, it was a genius move to be honest. A genjutsu was easy to dispel, so long as one could sense the foreign chakra in the area it could be broken. But a seal was near impossible to dispel unless one found the seal and broke it with their own fuiinjutsu. It also explained why the genjutsu was still up, part of the seal he saw was actually designed to draw in nature chakra and use it to power the rest of the seal. It wasn't the best work he had seen, but its application of seals was rather impressive.

He quickly channeled chakra into his hand, unsealing a very beautifully crafted calligraphy brush with several seals running along the handle. He channeled chakra into the seals, creating a soft flow of ink as he began to draw along the seals, adding his own counter-seal. When he was finished he resealed his brush and channeled chakra into the seals he had created. There was a soft blue glow before the genjutsu seal began to hiss, the ink started to steam as it melted away, soon leaving nothing to show that it had ever been there.

With nothing left but to open the door, Arashi did just that, grabbing both handles and heaving the doors open. The inside was pitch black, but thanks to his enhanced sight he could see a set of stairs. He cautiously made his way down the steps, keeping his footsteps as silent as possible. When he reached the end of the stairs he was met with a door, trying to open it proved useless as he found it was locked. He could of course smash it open, but he didn't want to startle anyone on the other side, if there was anyone. So he raised a hand and gently rapped on the door with his knuckles.

There was a soft gasp that his hearing managed to pick up on the other end, he heard a shuffling of feet, then a small slit in the door opened and a pair of green eyes peered out. "W-who are you?" asked a female voice, she sound young, maybe around her mid teens, and petrified.

"My names Arashi," trying put the girls mind at ease he gave her a gentle smile, "I was sent here by Mei Terumi when we heard your town was under attack."

"How can I trust you?" asked the girl.

That was a good question, Mei hadn't given him any way to show his authenticity, he had no proof that he was who he said he was. "I suppose you can't," Arashi said slowly, "however, if I had been sent here to kill you I would have just broken down the door." He paused for a moment to let that sink in, "now why don't you come out of there."

the slit shut and there was a moment when nothing happened, Arashi wondered if he had scared the girl away. However, a minute or two later there was some more shuffling, then the sound of bolts being unlatched. A second later the door opened and Arashi saw a young girl, with odd silvery blond hair was out of place on someone in Kiri, green eyes and a dark blue Yukata. She was currently holding a small boy of about four in her arms.

"It's good to see more people alive here," Arashi said, smiling at her. "I've only found one other survivor and feared there was no one else." The girl looked at him with mistrust and more than a little fear, "relax," he said, "I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl stared at him for several more minutes before deciding that she really had no choice but to trust the man in front of her, she gave him a nod and stepped further outside. He gestured for her to follow him as he began to walk up the stairs, when they reached the top the girl had to use one hand to cover her eyes as the sun showed through the mist.

"How long have you two been down there?" asked Arashi, noticing her slight discomfort at the light.

"...Since the attack had started," the girl replied, "we were getting ready for dinner when we heard explosions outside. Kaa-san, she... she..."

Realizing what the girl was trying to say, Arashi placed a hand on her back and rubbed it consolingly. "I'm sorry for you loss," he spent a moment giving the girl some time to get herself together before saying, "come on, we should meet with my partner."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>"I see, so there were only a dozen survivors," Mei closed her eyes and gave a heavy sigh as she leaned back in her seat. It was times like these that she wished someone else could take up the mantle of leader for the Bloodline faction.<p>

"Y-yes, Terumi-Sama," replied Choujuro as he gave his report. He and Arashi had just gotten back to the base about twenty minutes ago, and after taking the survivors they found to the small hospital had made their way here. "We found six children between the ages of one and eight, two teenagers, and four adults, all woman. Most of them had managed to hide themselves as the attack started."

"Thank you Choujuro, you may go," Mei said, not bothering to open her eyes. Choujuro nodded and left, he paused at the door and looked at Arashi who he had expected to follow him. The red haired swordsman gave the his blue haired companion a shake of his head before jerking it to Mei, indicating he still had something he wanted to talk to her about. Choujuro nodded before leaving.

As the door shut Arashi coughed, getting Mei to open her eyes and blink as she saw Arashi still standing there. "Is there something more you wish to discuss Arashi-san?" asked the auburn haired beauty.

"I was hoping to get a team together, and with your permission begin an investigation in order to root out who ever betrayed us to Yagura," said the man, not feeling like beating around the bush.

"What?" asked Mei, her eyes widening slightly.

"I want to begin rooting out the traitor among your ranks," Arashi repeated. "We can't launch any offensives until we know who the traitor is," half of his reason for coming here was so he could gain experience in combat and war. But he wouldn't get any of that if they were unable to actually make any battle plans for fear that some traitor would over hear it and inform the Mizukage.

Mei listened to the young mans words, she was a little shocked by his request but was also thinking about it carefully. She knew that they needed to root out the traitor as quickly as possible, the longer they sat there the better chances Yagura had of defeating them. In truth she had already planned on trying to root out the spy anyways, though she had been planning on getting Ao and maybe a few others to do the task.

The problem was, Mei wasn't sure if she should just trust Arashi to root out the traitor. She knew he was not the spy like Hisagi had said, after their initial encounter Mei had done what she could do dig up information on the name Arashi Kazama. There wasn't much, in fact, most people knew next to nothing about him. However, there was one man who worked in a weapons store that was decently acquainted the red haired swordsman. Apparently, Arashi had come to Konoha about a year and a half ago, looking for a place to sell his seals. Other than that there wasn't much known about him, but Mei had only gotten the idea to request aid from Konoha a month before she left. There was simply no way someone could have predicted she would do that a year and a half in advance and send someone there to integrate themselves into her forces.

No, she knew Arashi was not the traitor, but she still was unsure whether he had any skills available for rooting out espionage. He was strong, there was no denying that, he may even be as strong as she was, but rooting out a spy was different that battling a horde of enemy ninja. It required much more subtlety.

"And how do you plan on capturing this spy?" asked Mei. She wasn't going to write anything off yet, he may be able to help and she couldn't afford not to use any resources she had at her disposal right now.

"I need to gather information on all of the people who knew about your plan to ambush the Quarterly Caravan," began Arashi. "Chances are who ever betrayed you is a member of that group, when I find out who has the most to gain from such treachery I'll want Ao's help to keep an eye on my suspect."

"So you can catch them in the act?" asked Mei.

"So I can learn their habits," corrected Arashi, "whoever just betrayed you isn't going to do anything to bring attention to themselves right now, they'll want to lay low. However, most people usually let some information slip in the way they act when not on duty. Once I find my suspect I'll place a tracking seal on their person, and a voice recording seal in their room."

"I see," Mei tapped her fingers on the desk in a random pattern as her eyes gained a thoughtful look. Eventually she looked at Arashi and in a calm voice said, "I can't let you do this." When the young man opened his mouth to protest the auburn haired leader held up a hand, silencing him. "Because you are an outside I can't do this for fear of being seen as letting a foreigner do all the dirty work. However," she opened a drawer and reached in, pulling out several files which she set down on the desk. "Should you happen to come into some information on your own, and discover who this traitor is," the woman shrugged and smiled, "well, there's not much I can do about that."

Arashi shook his head and let out a chuckle, "clever, giving yourself plausible deniability in case my investigation goes south." He picked up the files and sealed them into a storage scroll.

"Hisagi's not the only one with an isolationist view," Mei commented with a tired frown. "Unfortunately most of Kiri prefers isolation, it's something I hope to change when I become Mizukage," the look vanished a moment later. "However, until then I have to play by these rules."

"I understand," Arashi said as he straightened up, "should you need me for anything you'll know where to find me." Turning around the young swordsman left for his room.

Mei watched him walk out and sighed, "don't betray the trust I'm giving you, Arashi."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>Arashi frowned as he continued reading through the files Mei had given him on the people who worked in Mei's inner circle, as it were. These were the people who she often consulted and spoke with when coming up with battle plans. Most of them were from once prominent bloodline clans, though many had been decimated by the many civil wars that had raged within Kirigakure. A few people however, were not members of a clan and merely held their positions on merits alone.<p>

Ao was one such member. He was an experienced veteran, having been raised under the feared regime of the _Bloody Mist_ and having fought in the Third Great Shinobi War. He had even fought some of Konoha's more powerful shinobi, such a Shisui Uchiha, known as Sunshin No Shisui (Shisui of the Body Flicker) due to his great mastery of the body Sunshin. It was because of the experience he gained from his past battles, and his ability to use the Byakugan, which he had taken after fighting a Hyuga at some point during his life, that he had been elevated to a high position of trust with Mei. Even if he did annoy her enough that she often threatened him with bodily harm.

Choujuro was another who had been elevated to a high position. Because of his skill with Hiramekarei, a blade that had belonged to a member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, he had been appointed as Mei's personal bodyguard.

Arashi did know much about either of them as people, beyond what he had seen during his interaction with them, but he was positive that neither of them would betray Mei. That meant it was one of the other five possible suspects.

A tired yawn escaped his lips before he could cover it, looking over at the clock he saw that it was an hour past midnight.

"_**Why don't you get some rest,"**_ suggested Akane, **_"you won't be able to find anything if your tired like this."_**

"_Yeah... I guess your right,"_ Arashi rubbed his eyes and was just about to set the file he had been looking over on the desk, when his eyes widened in shock. _This is...!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Hisagi found himself gasping for breath as he continued running away from the rebel base. He had no idea how long he had been trying to escape from his pursers but supposed it didn't matter. As the whistling sound of shuriken made there presence known, the man had to twist himself to dodge them. However, as he moved out of the way he caught a glimpse of one, and his eyes widened at the sight of an explosive note burning on it. The resulting explosion from the kunai destroyed the area Hisagi had been at, and only a quick Kariwimi had allowed him to get away. He growled as he saw his purser jump down from the trees and look at his hiding spot.<p>

"There's no sense in hiding, ass hole," Arashi said as he glared at the mans hiding spot. "Why don't you come out and accept your death like a man." The red heads answer was several kunai being thrown at his head, however, before they could reach him, Arashi had pulled out his own kunai and blocked them. "I see, so that's your answer. Fine then."

Arashi threw his own kunai and went through several hand seals, "Kunai Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" The one kunai sailing towards Hisagi soon turned into thirty kunai, forcing the lean man to jump out of the bush.

"I've got you now!" Arashi shouted as he appeared next to Hisagi, who gasped as he was kicked in the solar plexus. Despite feeling the wind getting knocked out of him, the lean-built man managed to grab onto Arashi's leg and spin around, letting go and sending the red head flying back.

Not that it did much good, Arashi managed to right himself in mid-air before his feet hit the branch of a tree trunk behind him and he pushed off, using chakra to blast off faster than humanely possible. Hisagi pulled out a kunai and readied himself for battle as Arashi came at him, a kunai in his hand. Jumping out of the way, the scarred man was just able to evade his opponents strike, and not wanting to give the swordsman a chance to recover began his own attack as soon as the mans feet touched the ground.

"Hisagi Shūhei, I am here to apprehend you for the crime of betraying Mei Terumi," Arashi said even as the two continued to battle. He came in with a reverse horizontal slash that was blocked by Hisagi's kunai, the two tried to push against each other, letting sparks fly as steel clashed against steel.

"I have no idea what your talking about!" Hisagi shouted as he managed to push the red head back, he reached into a pouch he had strapped to his waist and pulled out several shuriken. Tossing them at the Uzumaki swordsman who deflected them with ease.

"Of course you don't," Arashi said sarcastically, he threw his kunai at Hisagi's head, using it as a distraction while he came in hard. Hisagi blocked the kunai only to received a fist in the gut, causing him to gasp and spit out blood before he was sent hurtling to a tree.

As he slid down the trunk, Hisagi held in a wince and placed a hand near his gut. Hearing footsteps coming towards him he looked up to see Arashi looking at him with an impenetrable gaze. "You may think you've won, but if I go, I'm not going alone!" Hisagi pulled open his vest and showed Arashi that he had several hundred exploding notes attached to his body. He grinned as he saw Arashi's eyes widen, right before the notes went off with a large explosion.

The explosion rocked the ground for several meters, kicking up earth and destroyed trees as the intense heat from the fire burned away. Smoke billowed out from the epicenter of the blast, thick, black clouds that made it impossible to see anything inside the blast radius. When a stiff breeze blew away the smoke, all that was left was a large twenty foot crater and the only sign of Hisagi's passing.

"Damn it," Arashi muttered as he dropped down from the ground and walked up to the crater, "had I been any slower with my Kariwimi that would have killed me."

"_**You know without my training you would have never been quick enough to escape that,"**_ Akane said with a small grin. _**"Aren't you glad I gave you my training now?"**_

Arashi snorted, _"yeah, I'm so glad, because having some babe toss me around like a rag doll is how I get my jolly's off."_

"_**Oh, does it really? Well, maybe when this war is over and your back in Konoha we can get back to the grind,"**_ Akane said, her grin widening as she felt her containers fear.

"_I-I was just kidding Akane-chan, hehe."_

_"**Oh? So you don't like my training?" **_

Arashi could almost feel the pout on her face, and heard the slight danger in her tone. _"No, I love your training, it's just – well..."_

Akane giggled as heard her container sputter, _**"aw! Your so cute Naru-kun! I just want to eat you up when you get all embarrassed like that!"**_

"_It's Arashi,"_ Arashi muttered, feeling his face heating up at Akane's words. No matter what happened she always managed to make him embarrassed, _"right now, I'm Arashi, not Naruto."_

"_**You'll always be Naruto to me, Naruto-kun," **_Akane said, her voice an odd mixture of teasing and caring. _**"You'll always be 'my' Naruto-kun."**_Arashi felt an odd heat well up inside of him at Akane's words, there was something about the way she said that, that seemed different than the way she usually talked to him.

"Arashi!" turning his head Arashi saw Ao and Choujuro jump next to him, "I take it you got him?" Ao asked as he eyed the crater.

"Yeah," Arashi said, looking at the last place he saw Hisagi with a frown, "bastard blew himself up."

"Than let's go and inform Terumi-Sama," Ao grunted as he took to the trees again. Choujuro and Arashi quickly followed him as they made their way back to base.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Thanks to Arashi-san and Ao's efforts we were able to discover that Hisagi was in fact the traitor who gave away the information about our ambush to Yagura," Mei said as she stared at the people gathered around her. Most seemed to be in a state of perpetual surprise, not that she could blame them. "Thankfully, now that we have rooted out the traitor, we can begin making preparations to resume the war."<p>

"Thanks to one of our informants within the ranks of Yagura's forces we have discovered that there will be a change in the guard at one of Yagura's fortress on the northernmost outlying island. This will prove to be the perfect opportunity to attack and capturing the base and gaining all of the stock piles of weapons within it." Mei held up a map that showed the plans for the base she was giving her plans for, "as you can see, the island is small enough that the base covers the entirety of it. Because of this, Yagura troops can only gain entrance to the base via a dock located on the inside."

she drew everyone's attention to the design of a large steel door, "This door is how the boats gain entrance to the inside, it has a pulley locking mechanism that requires a lot of manpower to move, due to the fact that they never upgraded the machinery on it."

"Our plan of action will be to attack the boat before it reaches the base and commandeer it, once we gain entrance into the base it will be ours since no one will know that we are not with the Mizukage's forces." Mei looked around the table to see everyone looking at her with varying emotions, "are there any questions?"

"I have one," asked a man appeared to be in his late thirties, perhaps early forties. He had a few wrinkles on his forehead and under his gray eyes. The thing that stood out the most to Arashi was the scar that ran from his right cheek down to his neck. He had a faded light blue hair, which Arashi was beginning to note was a common color in Kiri. He was dressed in the standard Mist jonin apparel that was slightly beat up and had definitely seen better days. Of course that was very standard with the war, most people had to make do with what they could find. All together, the man looked like your average shinobi.

"Yes, what is Koi?" asked Mei.

"Do you think this is the right time to strike?" asked Koi, "I mean no offense, but we have just suffered from a serious defeat, one third of our forces were lost in that last attack, either due to injury or death. I'm not sure if we have enough troops to launch an attack."

"Which is why this isn't a true attack," Mei replied confidently. "The ship that will be carrying the shinobi replacements only has a total of thirty ninja in it. The island is quite small, and truthfully, not that important in the grand scheme of things. However, it will give us a closer reach to into Kiri and some of the other fortresses. It's the first step towards reaching our goal of freeing Kiri from Yagura's tyrannical rule."

Koi seemed to accept this as he nodded and Mei turned to the assembly of people, "our plan will commence in three days, in which I will choose the team I feel is best suited for the job. All of you are dismissed."

one by one the ninja and advisers left, speaking in low, hushed tones. Arashi, with his enhanced senses managed to pick up several of the conversations but paid it no mind. When everyone else was gone Mei looked at the red haired Uzumaki, "I'm risking a lot with this plan. Are you sure it will work?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't sure," Arashi said with a shrug, "however, if it helps you feel better Ao is keeping an eye on things to make sure everything goes according to plan."

Mei nodded and sighed as she leaned over the table, "I really hope this works, my people can't afford to suffer any more losses than they already have."

Arashi was silent for a moment as he saw the woman looking a lot more tired than he usually saw. It was obvious this war was taking its toll on her, even though she put up a strong front for her people. "I'll do everything in my power to make sure this plan works," he said in a determined voice.

Looking up at the man Mei gave a tired but grateful smile, "somehow, I figured you'd say that."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Koi calmly walked towards his room, being sure to keep a calm and steady pace. It was difficult, what with the news he had just received when Mei had unveiled a new pan to try and get back for the defeat her forces had suffered. He had thought that she would not have wanted to take any serious action for a while now, but apparently, he had been wrong. The thought that she was going to launch another strike against Yagura made Koi excited.<p>

He walked into his room and closed the door, locking it shut and moving over to his desk. He fumbled around for a moment as he unlocked the door to one of his drawers, opened it, then opened the secret compartment within that drawer. He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and began to write:

_Mei's forces will be attacking the fortress on the northern borders of Mizu No Kuni in three days, during the changing of the guard._

The message was very basic but it got it's point across, Koi decided. He walked over to his window and pulled a small whistle from his pocket, blowing on it. No sound came from the whistle, at least none that he or any other human could hear. The whistle was not made for human ears.

He only had to wait for a minute before a dark gray hawk flew onto the windowsill. Koi rolled up the letter and sealed in inside of ring that he then placed on the Hawks leg. "You know what to do," he told the Hawk, who, whether it understood him or not, flapped its wings and flew off.

Deciding he would get some rest, Koi stripped down to his undergarments and laid down in bed. Soon, this would all be over.

Soon, the Bloodline Rebels and Mei Terumi would die and the war would end.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Your sure?" asked Mei as she listened to Ao give his report.<p>

"Yes Terumi-Sama," Ao said, "I was watching as Koi wrote the letter and read its contents. The hawk he used is a special night hawk that is used only by the Kiri hunter ninja squad when sending either the head of a missing-nin, or special information so they can receive more directives."

"Seems Arashi was right after all," Mei laced her hands together as she placed her elbows on the desk, "Wouldn't you say, Hisagi?"

from behind her, a wall opened up, one of the many hidden passages that was hidden through out the base in case it ever fell under attack. From within the secret passage Hisagi Shūhei stepped out.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>several miles south of a small town in Mizu No Kuni stood one of the Mizukage's many fortresses. Unlike most hidden villages, where there was only one village and no real outposts or bases, Kirigakure was different in that it held several large strongholds due to the near constant civil wars they had been in. Likewise, due to Mizu No Kuni being made up of many small islands, the Mizu Daimyo did not have as large a Samurai force as other nations like Hi No Kuni or Kaminari No Kuni (Land of Lightning). This was just another reason why the Mizukage had gone unopposed for as long as he had.<p>

This fortress in particular was the stronghold for one of the Mizukage's most feared generals, and one of the last living members of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu that was still loyal to his village. The man known as Kushimari Kuriarare.

The fortress itself was large and imposing, a three story hexagonal building with a large stone wall that had barbed wire on the top and only one entrance. Situated along the wall were six guard towers that held two ninja, whose job it was to search the surrounding area with large search lights in case of attack. The entire area around the fortress for fifty meters in all directions was free of any vegetation that could be used to hide. In short, unless you had a large army that was capable of destroying the walls and/or gate, breaking inside was impossible.

Which of course was why they were sneaking in and not breaking in.

"Alright, you all know the plan," Ao said gruffly as he began to speak to his troops and Arashi. "The signal should come soon from our guy on the inside, when we get it, we're to head over to the guard tower on the left of the gate to get in and hook up with our spy. Afterwords, we are to take out all of the guards, quietly, meanwhile, Arashi will be going in to deal with Kushimaru himself." Every turned to the red head at those words and he just nodded solemnly. "Now, we wait."

The shinobi in the squad broke up a little as they did what ever it was they did when waiting for the action to start. Some spoke to each other, cracking jokes and telling tall-tales in order to relieve the tension they felt at the possibility of this mission going sour. Others were sharpening there kunai, checking their supplies and a few he noticed, were silently praying. As for Arashi himself, he was getting support from the one person who mattered most.

"_**Your worried," **_noted Akane as her container sat in a meditative position with his eyes closed and his breathing slow and even.

"_Of course I am,"_ Arashi said, his voice sounding similar to a soft breeze within the seal. _"This will be the first time I go up against a ninja whose talent may equal or even surpass my own abilities, an A rank ninja, a true elite of the village. All of the other opponents I faced were standard B rank jonin, an A rank is several levels above that. I can't help but be worried."_

"_**You'll do fine,"**_ Akane reassured her container and closest friend. _**"You have easily surpassed all my expectations during training and have gone beyond the level most normal ninja can reach. I have absolute faith in your abilities. However, should you need my assistance, you know all you have to do is call."**_

"_Thanks Akane-chan," _Arashi said to the person he cared more about than anyone else in the entire world. The woman, who Arashi often found too beautiful for mere words to describe, had always been the one to support him in recent years. She had done more for him than anyone else, training him to be strong, teaching him what he should have been taught at the orphanage, telling him about his heritage and helping him cope with al the hardships in his life. It was only because of her that he was the person he was today, and he would always be grateful to her.

"_**Oh my, stop it Naruto-kun, your making me blush."**_

"_Y-you heard all that?"_ Naruto's voice squeaked across the mindscape.

Akane grinned, _**"seems you still have trouble keeping yourself from transmitting your thoughts." **_she could almost feel his blush, _**"you know it's quite flattering to know you think of me like that. Perhaps, some time in the future you can come down into the seal and "Show me" just how grateful you are."**_

"_A-akane!" _Arashi stuttered at the provoking thoughts and images her words invoked. He could hear Akane's tinkling laughter in his mind and was about to try and get back at her when a voice interrupted him.

"You ok, kid?" asked Ao, who was looking at Arashi's red face in concern, "your not looking so well, your face is all red."

"I'm fine," Arashi said as he tried to get his blush under control, "i just have a sunburn is all."

Ao blinked, "but there's no sun out."

"It's from yesterday."

"Yesterday was misty," Ao pointed out, confused about why the kid was coming up with such lame excuses as to why his face was red.

Arashi's right eye began to twitch violently as he glared at the blue-haired hunter ninja, "Ao, shut up, or I'll kill you."

_Oh great, now he's copying Terumi-Sama,_ Ao thought with a sweatdrop.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>getting into the fortress had been easy enough, once the signal had been given, the light in the left guard tower moving skyward, the team of ninja had made their move. The race across the grounds between where they had been on stand by, and the gate had been easy enough, if a little nerve racking due to the fact that had this been a trap they would have all died. Thankfully there had been no mishaps and Arashi, Ao and the others had made it to the top of the guard tower, where they hooked up with Mei's informant.<p>

From there the teams had split up into groups of two, Ao and a kunoichi's whose name Arashi never bothered to learn went off. While the two shinobi besides Ao in the squad had gone another way. That left Arashi with the informant, who was traveling with him after he had made some Kage Bunshin to replace the guards the man had killed.

"Kushimaru will be on the top floor in his office," the man told Arashi quietly as they snuck into the main fortress. The red head was thankful that they had not deemed it necessary to post guards at the door, believing that they were safe enough with the guard towers and large wall. "I would go with you, but I need to get back to my post or they may realize something is wrong."

Arashi nodded, "good luck."

"Same to you."

sticking to the ceiling and having Akane place a powerful invisibility illusion on him, Arashi made his way towards the end of the hall, made a right, another right, and one left before he reached the stair case. He dropped to the floor, using chakra to make his fall silent, and proceeded to walk up the stairs. When he got to the third floor there was only one door, and knew it led to his adversary.

Taking a deep breath he opened the door and walked in.

"I've been waiting for you to show up," Arashi looked at the man who was hailed as one of Kiri's strongest swordsmen. Kushimaru was both very thin and tall in stature, giving him an overall gangling appearance. He had long, shaggy white hair, and due to his service within the ANBU, his face is concealed by a white porcelain mask, with a darker-coloured triangle on its lower part, slits for eye holes and Kirigakure's symbol carved on its top. His attire consisted of a sleeveless black shirt, matching pants, complete with a waist-guard, and Kirigakure's striped wrist and leg-guards. He also wore bandages around his neck and possibly around the lower half of his face.

Attached to his back was a sword. The Nuibari, a blade itself was that of a narrow "_longsword_" (長刀, _chōtō_) that greatly resembles a large needle, with a long length of thin wire mirroring thread, tied to the _eye_ located at the base of its hilt. Arashi had heard many stories of that blade and knew not to underestimate it or the mans mastery in its use.

"You were expecting my presence?" asked Arashi, as he summoned his blade to his hand.

"Of course."

"How did you know I was even here?"

"I sensed your presence the moment you and the others made it into my fortress," the man answered in an unconcerned manner.

"Your a sensor then," Arashi said.

"Yes."

"If you knew we were coming -"

"Then why did I let you in without alerting the outpost?" finished Kushimaru, turning around to face Arashi. "I have been waiting for a challenge since I took up my position within the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, ever since I came to this position I have not been able to find a true challenge." Arashi couldn't really see the man's face, but he had a feeling Kushimaru's eyes were on his blade. His next words confirmed it, "you are an Uzumaki, one of the last, I suspect. The Uzumaki clan was a clan that was once feared for their Kenjutsu, and their powerful Kekkei Genkei." reaching a hand behind him, the white haired swordsman grabbed Nuibari and unsheathed it. "I have heard much about you since you came to Kiri, and since than I have wanted to test myself against you."

"Well don't I just feel special now," Arashi said as he slid into the beginning stance for the Issei No Ryuuken sword style. The red head smirked, "looks like we're facing each other for the same reason, I've always wanted to test myself against one of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu."

Kushimaru got into his own stance, one that Arashi had never seen before, even in the scrolls in his house, "So it seems."

the two stared at each other, a silence that was merely the calm before the storm. As if on an unspoken signal they rushed each other, their blades sending sparks as they hit the others and the two began their dance of death.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>several miles outside of the main base for the Bloodline faction, Koi Sento was running for his life. His jonin vest and the shirt underneath were in ruins, torn to shreds by kunai and shuriken that had only just missed him. His skin had several lacerations from the ones that didn't. His breathing was erratic, the kind of breathing one had when they had been running for as long as he had. Yet he knew he had to keep going, he had to keep running or he would be killed.<p>

He still had no clue how it had happened, but somehow he had been found out. Koi had thought that all of the searching was finished when that Arashi guy had killed Hisagi, mistakenly thinking that he was the traitor. Yet now it was clear that he had been played a fool. They had known, he was the traitor somehow, or had found out some time after. Either way it didn't matter, all that did was losing his tail and leaving.

Before he could get much further however, he felt the sharp pain of a kunai digging into his calf. He stumbled, his exhaustion, mixed in with the pain causing him to slow. It was all the time his purser needed to catch up to him.

"Your finished Koi, give up," Hisagi said as he stalked towards the tired man. However, Koi didn't seem to be finished as he attempted to go through several hand signs for a jutsu. However, Hisagi was in no mood to let this man finish, rushing him and slamming a fist in the older mans gut. As Koi leaned forward and wheezed from the loss of breath, the lean-built man smashed an elbow into his face.

Koi fell to the ground, unable to hold himself any longer; he had exhausted his chakra, his body had given out and he could hardly feel some of his muscles and only felt pain in others. He hadn't been in his prime for years, a lack of actually going on missions and not training himself anymore had caused his physical prowess to degrade. Now he almost felt like a civilian.

"How... how is it your still alive?" ask Koi as Hisagi stood over him.

Hisagi stared at the man as he remembered the events that had transpired to this moment.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

"_Your sure of this?" asked Mei, her voice a mixture of disbelief and shock._

"_I'm one hundred percent positive," Arashi said as he handed her some files. "Koi Sento is the traitor, out of all the people he not only has the most say in most of your plans, but is also privy to more information than anyone else. I found those files in his room, it seems he has been giving reports to the Mizukage and receiving orders on what to do, and has been ever since he joined you."_

"_I can't believe he would do this..." Mei whispered, for once in her life she was well and truly shocked. "What does he gain from this?"_

"_The purging of all bloodlines within Kiri," Arashi's comment caused Mei's head to snap up and look at him. "It seems his family was killed at the beginning of the Civil War, during the Kaguya's attack on Kirigakure. Ever since than, he's hated people with Kekkei Genkei."_

"_I see..." Mei closed her eyes and sighed. She honestly couldn't blame the man for his hatred of Bloodlines, losing ones family is horrible, "I take it you have a plan to deal with him?"_

"_Of course," Arashi said._

"_Then do so."_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><em>At hearing the knock on the door, Hisagi walked over to it and opened it up. "What do you want?" he asked with a sneer as he saw who it was.<em>

_Arashi however, didn't seem all that bothered as he grinned at the older man, "how would you like to help me catch a traitor?" he asked, causing Hisagi to blink._

_Flashback end..._

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"I see," Koi said, closing his eyes. He knew he wouldn't be getting away from this alive. <em>Perhaps I'll finally be able to see my wife and daughter again...<em>

"This is the end, Koi," Hisagi said as he pulled out a sword and swung it down, cutting the mans head clean off. Sighing, he sealed the head inside a containment scroll, then burned the body with a katon jutsu. He looked at the sky for a moment before heading off to report his success at killing the traitor to Mei.

* * *

><p><strong>There we go, what do you all think of this chapter? I hope you've all been enjoying it.<strong>

**A/N: To MR. Eclipse: I'll be honest and admit that I prefere my Shift in Life Kyuubi to this one as well. However, I was going for a good Kyuubi in this story, in the other one she is more of a grey and manipulative Kyuubi. I won't go into too much detail because it would ruin the story, but I can tell you that you haven't seen all of Akane's personality. Right now she is in the seal, and there isn't much to do while sealed inside of a kid. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Diclaimer: now would be an excellent time to tell you that I do not own Naruto, or any Naruto memorabilia, or anything that has to do with Naruto. However! I do own fishcakes, you know, the ramen topping.**

**Chapter 11: Sword to the Grind**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi and Kushimaru put on a burst of speed as they rushed each other, locking their blades together as they swung at one another. Each pushed against the other, trying to gain the advantage and determine the other ninja's strength. That ended when they both jumped back.<p>

Both opponents moved around in a circle as they eyed the other, it was Arashi who broke first. Quicker than a flash the red head was right in front of Kushimaru, swinging his sword vertically in a way that would bisect the Kiri swordsman from his left collar bone to his right hip. If it ever hit.

Kushimaru brought his sword up, blocking the strike and bringing their locked blades around before reversing his blades edge so that it was facing Arashi. He swung his sword in a swipe that would have cleaved the red haired Uzumaki in half. However, Arashi jumped back in time, only to be forced to dodge several speeding thrusts that would have poked a whole right through him. It was harder for him to dodge the mans attacks due to how fast they were, Kushimaru's speed when stabbing at someone was said to be unparallelled due to the unique nature of his sword. Arashi could agree with them, the mans arm and blade were nothing more than a blur as he attempted to impale the red head.

However, Arashi had his own tricks up his sleeve and after a few seconds of dodging was able to find how Kushimaru timed his attacks. During the mans next attempt to kill him via impalement, Arashi brought his sword up to deflect the blow. He pushed both of their swords wide and came in with an elbow, hoping to hit his opponent in the face.

It was dodged as Kushimaru moved back, jumping a few feet away. The man than threw his sword at Arashi, who merely deflected it, sending it off course and forcing Kushimaru to run and catch it. Not wanting to give the man time to recover the Uzumaki swordsman blurred out of focus, reappearing next to Kushimaru just as he grabbed his blade. "I'm not really sure what you hoped to accomplish by doing that," Arashi said as the Kiri swordsman brought his blade up to block. "Honestly, throwing a sword in combat? That might work against an opponent who isn't a very good swordsman, but that sort off crap won't work against an Uzumaki."

"So it seems," Kushimaru said, sounding completely unconcerned before he pushed against Arashi's blade and jumped to the side. He swung his own sword, bringing it across his body but the attack was blocked. "I guess I'll need to take this up a notch."

Arashi narrowed his eyes before they widened slightly. Kushimaru suddenly became a blur of motion as he attempted to impale the blond on his blade. It was only thanks to the intense training that Akane had made him go through that kept Arashi one step ahead of the mans sword. He continued to dodge and redirect the direction of the Kiri swordsman's blade, before jumping back to gain some breathing room.

"So this is the Uzumaki kenjutsu style Issei No Ryuuken," Kushimaru commented as they both agreed to a small break in order to feel out their opponent. "I must say its impressive though a tad basic."

"You think so, huh?" Arashi said, a smirk beginning to grace his features, "I suppose someone who's never faced an Uzumaki would think that. Why don't I show you the true form of Uzumaki kenjutsu?" The red head shifted his stance, feet spread shoulder length apart at a forty-five degree angle, knees bent ever so slightly, while his arms went above his head, bringing his sword down on the other side of his body so that the blade was facing down. The stance was far different than your standard kenjutsu stance and Kushimaru wondered what it could do.

Just than Arashi kicked off, blurring towards him in a burst of speed, as the red head came closer he swung his blade horizontally from the left. The attack was actually slower than his last ones, and Kushimaru managed to block the strike but soon realized what a mistake doing so was. The moment his sword made contact with Arashi's, he was sent skidding back several feet from the mere force of the swing. His blade quivered from the power behind the red heads blow, and he could even feel his arms shaking slightly. He poured chakra into his arms and blade in an effort to stop their shaking.

"That's impressive," Kushimaru commented lightly, "your change in stance has affected the amount of power you can put behind your strikes. By bringing your sword up like that you are able to bring more force into your attacks at the cost of your speed."

"Correct," Arashi said as he moved back into his stance, "as you said the Uzumaki Kenjutsu style is fairly basic. Unlike most styles we don't have any unique dances. However, we do have forms, sword stances that allow us to utilize a specific physical and mental ability, speed, strength, dexterity, agility, cunning, constitution, protection, deflection; these are the eight forms of the Uzumaki kenjutsu style, designed to bring out the full potential towards a specific human ability. This is form three, the strong style."

"Fascinating," the man said, though from the way his voice was monotone it was hard to tell if he was truly fascinated. "So this is the true Uzumaki style, tell me, how many forms do you know?"

Arashi chuckled, "now that would be telling." He rushed in again, aiming a downward swing at Kushimaru's head. Knowing what would happen should he block from his last encounter with he red head, the Kiri swordsman dodged the attack, rather than attempting to block it. That proved to be a wise choice, since when the blade passed through where he had been it struck the ground and tore up a chunks of it, leaving a nice, long gash in the floor.

The battlefield had changed as Kushimaru was placed on the defensive, trying to find a way past Arashi's guard or some kind of weakness he could exploit. Meanwhile, Arashi himself was on the complete offensive. The form he was using, form three was a style that neglected defense and speed for power, and as such forced him to keep as much on the offense as possible.

On and on this continued as the two moved across the room, it became a game of cat and mouse, where Kushimaru would dodge and Arashi would attack. The room itself soon became a bit of a mess, gouges ran along the walls and floors from when Arashi's attacks missed. The gouges were a testament to the power behind the red heads blows.

The stalemate soon ended when Arashi came in for his next swing. Kushimaru timed his movements with Arashi, ducking under the mans swing and then stabbing at him. The red haired Uzumaki did his best to dodge and managed to avoid serious injury, but he did not get away unscathed.

A hiss escaped his lips as he held a hand to his lower left torso, blood dripped between his fingers from the slight cut he had gotten. "You are good," Arashi commented, "not many people could have found that weakness so soon."

"Comes with being a member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu," Kushimaru said.

"Right, in that case..." once again Arashi shifted styles, his feet were spread wider and he placed his blade in front of him, the grip held up near his left shoulder, with the tip point diagonally down from near his right hip. "Let's see how you handle this."

Kushimaru's instinct screamed at him to move and, not one to ignore such a powerful compulsion he rolled forward across the floor. As he did, the singing of a blade passing through where he had been previously sounded, so close to him that several strands of hair were cut off. Pushing his hands on the ground he kipped up to his feet.

Only to come face-to-face with Arashi, his blade already swinging again. Kushimaru moved his own blade to block it, but the moment there blades touched,the red head had once again disappeared. The Kiri Swordsman spun around out of instinct and managed to block a strike meant for his head, but Arashi yet again disappeared and this time he was unable to fully dodge the strike sent his way.

"Now I see why the Uzumaki clan is so feared," Kushimaru commented as he held a hand to where he had been cut, the same place as the one he gave Arashi, only on the opposite side. "This new stance lets you utilize intense speeds that most would have trouble just seeing, much less reacting to it."

"You Kiri Swordsman really are something," Arashi said, "to be able to figure out my style so easily. Your a credit to your name."

"Thank you," Kushimaru went through several hand seals, "but now that I have seen more of your abilities I can't let this continue. You are too dangerous to be left alive. Now you will see the way a true member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu fights, Kirigakure No Jutsu (Hidden Mist Jutsu)."

_That's right, I had heard that Kushimaru was a master of the Muon Satsujin Jutsu, _Arashi thought to himself as he stared into the thickening mist. _It's_ _a very quiet method of killing an opponent, usually from behind with a blade. Additionally, because the user is very silent, it cannot be defended against. The user will often slit their opponent's throat, preventing any cry that might give them away._

_Well, since my eyesight is useless, I might as well not use it,_ Arashi closed his eyes he switched stances once again, moving his blade so that the hilt was next to his lower abdominal muscles and the blade was pointing away from him. He extended chakra into his ears and nose, hoping to pick out the sound and scent of his opponent before the other kenjutsu user could attack.

Acting with surprising speed Arashi brought up his blade and blocked an attack that would have slit his throat. He pushed the blade away, then spun around with a slash meant to slice his opponent in half. He hit nothing but air however, and moved back into his stance.

Another attack came, this one a piercing attack designed to impale him. Arashi twisted his body away and around as he used his blade to redirect the attack, at the same time he lashed out with a kick. Once again he hit nothing but air.

The battle continued along this vein as the two attempted to out move each other, Kushimaru's attacks would come from all angles, completely silently. Despite this, Arashi was more than able to hold his own and continued blocking all of the attacks that came at him. He attempted his own counterattacks, striking immediately after the Kiri swordsman's attack failed. However, this always seemed to end in failure as Kushimaru was simply too fast for a reactionary attack to work.

"Your ability to fight despite being blinded is impressive," Kushimaru said, his voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. "How are you able to know when I'm attacking?"

Arashi snorted, "tell you what, you teach me how to use the Muon Satsujin Jutsu and I'll tell you how I can still figure out where you are. Deal?"

His answer was several fast attacks that came from his left, right, and then behind. Arashi moved his blade in a blur as he dodged the right, used his blade to redirect the attack so it just missed him, twisted his body to left, allowing the blade to pass him by, then spun a full one hundred and eighty degrees, bringing his blade up at the same time to knock away the blade that came at him from behind and was set to impale him.

He took several deep breaths as he tried to regain control of his breathing, _that was harder than I thought. I'm lucky Akane never pulled her punches in our spars or I never would have been able to keep up with this guy._

"_**Your so sweet Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane's voice suddenly popped up in his mind, **_"well, I'm always here if you want to come into the seal and "Thank me" properly."_**

Arashi blushed even as he dodged three more strikes that had been set to kill him, _"Not now Akane!"_

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Ao covered the mouth of his last victim, the shinobi's eyes snapped open but before the man could do anything Ao slit his throat. The blue haired hunter ninja watched as the shinobi's eyes glazed over and dimmed. Looking around with his Byakugan he made sure that was the last ninja in this room.<p>

Seeing that it was he made his way outside where he was met with his partner for this mission, covered in blood, though from the way she was standing he knew it was not her own. "Had some problems?" asked Ao.

The kunoichi sighed but nodded her head, "one of the shinobi woke up before I could kill him. I had to cut a different artery to finish him off faster, before he could sound the alarm."

"That happens from time to time," Ao said. "Our task is done now, we should meet up with the others outside. Hopefully we can inform Terumi-Sama of our accomplishment and have her send some troops to bring this place under our control."

the kunoichi nodded and the two of them began to move, "do you think that Arashi guy is alright?" she asked after a few moments.

"He's fine," Ao grunted, "I saw the kid fight before when he managed to hold off nearly three hundred shinobi by himself. It will take more than one ninja, even one as famous as Kushimaru Kuriarare to kill him."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi continued blocking all of the strikes that were sent his way by the opposing swordsman. A good thing too, as all of the attacks launched at him so far would have killed him.<p>

However he was quickly getting frustrated by the ongoing battle, so far neither he nor Kushimaru had landed a single hit on each other since the Kiri swordsman had made the mist. Kushimaru was simply too fast for Arashi to hit using reactionary attacks, and Arashi could figure out where Kushimaru was going to attack seconds before he did it. This left them at a stalemate.

_Damn it, with the way this is going I'm going to have to use one my Uzumaki techniques to beat him,_ thought Arashi as he dodged a strike to his left, blocked another from his right and manged to side-step the last one from above him. _He always comes in with three strikes before he backs off. He knows that if he stays in one place for too long I'm likely to hit him, so he has to keep on the move._

That meant he had to come up with a way to attack the man before he could get in his third strike. There was a move that would allow this, but he had yet to complete it when he had been training. _Well, no time like the present I guess,_he thought to himself as he shifted his stance again.

Arashi extended his senses out as far as they could go in an effort to be ready for the man to strike. The attack came from behind him, a thrust to his lower back, right near his spinal column. The red head twisted his body and brought his sword up in a vertical guard, deflecting the attack. The Nuibari moved back and the attack was now coming from his left, at shoulder height. Bringing his sword down Arashi blocked the strike and pushed the blade away. The last strike Arashi could feel was coming from behind him, and it was here that he struck.

The edge of his blade began to glow a bright white that almost seemed to pierce the mist. When the attack came, a piercing motion aimed at his neck, Arashi struck. He swung his sword up, blocking the attack and knocking it away, then he reversed the direction of the blade and brought it down in a swift motion, "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Hiton: Shashiki Ranpu (Uzumaki Hidden Technique: Light Release: Cutting Light)!"

a crescent beam the same width and length of his blade shot out of the edge and soared into the mist. There was a grunt and Arashi's enhanced hearing could pick up the sound of blood splashing on the ground. A second later there was a thump, a sound recognizable as a body hitting the floor.

The mist began to clear and Arashi, allowing the red haired Uzumaki to open his eyes and look around the room. Less then two feet away he saw Kushimaru, laying on his back with his sword at his side. There was a long gash in his clothes, a cut that ran the entire length of his torso and covered some of his neck. Blood was beginning to leak into his clothes, a growing stain of red that was soon pooling around his body. His breaths heaved in ragged, gurgled gasps, letting Arashi know that his attack had likely cut up a lung.

"That was...the best fight I...ever had," Kushimaru spoke out, blood beginning to leak out from under the mask. His face turned to look at Arashi, who had walked up to his side. "You are...strong...I'm glad we fought..."

"As am I," Arashi said, "you were my toughest opponent yet."

"As a reward for...defeating me...I'll tell you something...interesting about...about the Mizukage," Kushimaru's breathing was getting heavier and more labored as he spoke. "He rarely ever...leaves his compound anymore...I...most of our soldiers...think he's gone mad..."

"And what do you think?"

"I don't think he's really himself anymore..." the dying man said, "he...has isolated himself...more and more...beware...the man with the mask...he is..." whatever he was about to say was cut off as the man took one last labored breath and died.

Arashi stood there for a minute, digesting what he had just heard before he pulled out a scroll. He sealed up both the body and the sword and placed the scroll back in his pouch. With his mission accomplished he decided it was time he went to find Ao's team and hook back up with them.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>back within Konoha Chishio Naruto had just gotten out of the first half of class and was now on his lunch break. It had been nearly six months since Naruto had left to fight in the Civil War in Kiri, using his persona of Arashi Kazama, the Uzumaki sealing expert who had forsaken his clan name. During that time things in Konoha had gone on as usual.<p>

Sasuke was still being a prick, Naruto had at least tried to befriend the disillusioned Uchiha, but the kid was even more obstinate and arrogant than ever. Not only that but he seemed to have a darkness inside of him. The raven haired academy student had completely isolated himself from everyone else.

His fan girls were just as bad as they always were. Naruto didn't quite understand what it was girls found attractive about broody, emo, bishonen boys like Sasuke, but they seemed to have this belief that one of them would be the girl to "Heal their Sasuke-kun's broken heart" or some crap like that. They probably didn't even realize that Sasuke most likely wished they were all dead so they wouldn't be around to annoy him.

Everyone had stayed the same as always, Shikimaru was a lazy ass, Choji still ate every second of everyday, Kiba was still a loud mouthed braggart and was also starting to become something of a lecher, Hinata was still a shy, under-confident girl, though Naruto noticed that she had tried stalking him on occasion before he gave her the slip, and Ino and Sakura were still the most obnoxious of Sasuke's fan girls.

Naruto resisted a sigh, sometimes it was hard pretending to be an extremely happy idiot, and hiding all of his skills from everyone. A part of him, ok most of him, just wanted to bust out, show up the Uchiha and kick ass. He knew it was slightly childish of him, and he knew that he couldn't afford to bring suspicion to himself. The civilian populace still hated him, but right now they just thought he was harmless and so no one attacked him anymore. All that would change if they learned just how powerful he was.

As he was walking to his usual place to eat he felt something crawl along his shoulder. Reaching up Naruto grabbed whatever it was between his thumb and forefinger. He brought it up to his eyes and saw that it was a bug, it was a small beetle like insect. Naruto recognized it as the Aburame Clans Kikaichū beetles.

Looking around Naruto found Shino standing under a tree, it was hard to tell what he was looking at thanks to the sunglasses, but he had a hand raised up to his face so he must be looking at some kind of bug. Walking over he got the attention of the quiet bug user and held up his hand with the Kikaichū on it, "is this yours?"

"...Yes, it is," Shino said in a monotone voice. Naruto held out his hand the beetle crawled onto the quiet Aburame's waiting hand.

"I would suggest that you ask for my permission the next time you want to let your beetles feed on my chakra," Naruto said with a grin.

Shino raised his eyebrows, the only sign that showed he was surprised, though it was hard to see with his hood up. "I'll remember that," he said.

Naruto grinned, "then we'll have no problems." Lunch soon came to an end and the blond walked away and headed back into class.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Everyone, it is time to strike at the heart of our problems and end this war," Mei was speaking to her soldiers from a raised platform. Beside her stood Ao, Choujuro, Hisagi and Arashi, who had become a symbol of strength to her people. "This war has gone on for several years, and we have faced many hardships and spilled shed more blood than any people should ever have to. However, the end of our troubles is near! In six days time, we will be launching an all out assault on Kirigakure's walls!"<p>

the proclamation was met with stunned silence. For the past several months, the Bloodline forces had been having a lot more success in battle than the Mizukage's forces. Since Kushimaru's defeat at Arashi's hands the tides of war had changed. In the past month alone their forces had assaulted and taken over four different fortresses, each one had been given up without much of a challenge. In fact, most of their take overs had been brought about in part because of the many people Mei now had on the inside.

Thanks to Yagura's continued involvement in terrorizing his own people with bandits, many of the Mizukage's ninja had grown to dislike the man. Several ninja had even grown to hate him, after their own families were killed or taken slave by the many thugs that infested Mizu No Kuni. People wanted change, and were sick of the war, because of this many of the Mizukage's shinobi had turned traitor, believing that they would be better off living with the Kekkei Genkei clans than a man who would not only allow his own people to be killed, but also have his forces take part in it.

Still, the proclamation that they were assaulting Yagura in a head-on attack was shocking. Just a few months ago they had suffered a major defeat and now they were going to fight Yagura and his forces head on. However, no one said anything, everyone wanted this war to end, and even if they were afraid of losing, they would still fight. All in the hopes that one way or another, this would end.

"Thanks to Yagura's foolish actions we now have many ninja inside his camp who will be fighting alongside us," Mei continued. "Many who are dissatisfied with the rule of a man who has become disillusioned and lost sight of his goals in an attempt to prolong this war. I won't lie to you, there is a chance that many of us will die, however, I know that in the end we will win!"

a cheer went up with the crowd, unlike normal people these were shinobi, death was part of the business and didn't bother them. "I want all of you to be ready, check your equipment and speak with your families. In a few days you'll receive your orders and in six, we march on Kiri."

The shinobi cheered again and Mei let it continue before ordering her troops to get a good nights sleep and spend as much time with their families as possible. When everyone had cleared out Mei turned to the four behind her, "I'll be counting you four for support."

"Don't worry, I don't know about stick up his ass here, but you can count on me," Arashi said with a cocky grin as he hitched a thumb towards Hisagi who gained an eye twitch.

"You damn punk! You think you can just go around insulting me?" Hisagi glared at him. "Keep up with that lip and I'll have to teach you a lesson."

"Like you could old man," said Arashi, ignoring the fact that Hisagi was only twenty-two years old. "You can try if you liked, but just know that you'll be eating those words after I shove my foot off in your ass."

"Why you -"

"Could you two please stop fighting?" asked Mei, "I thought you had gotten over your differences."

"Nah, he just learned to be more open minded," said Arashi, "that doesn't make him any less of a prick." Hisagi growled again but the red head just ignored him, "anyways I'm heading out, gotta get some fresh air before I vomit from the smell of ass this guys exuding."

As Arashi left, Hiagi began a loud rant about red headed idiots and how he was going to beat the crap out of that red headed punk. Everyone else ignored him.

"You know sometimes that kid seems to have a childish streak," Ao said as he shook his head. "And I thought he was a real man."

_A... real... man, _thought Mei as a tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"You know, the kind of man you can count on in times of need...not a child."

_a real man...need a child!_

"back in my day -"

"Ao..." Mei interrupted in a sickly sweet voice that screamed danger, "shut up... or I'll kill you."

Ao gaped at Mei as she walked off, "w-what did I do?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi stood on a bluff with Mei, Ao, Chojuro and Hisagi as he looked out at the village of Kirigakure No Sato. Kirigakure's architecture is composed of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's palace being the widest and the largest. Like its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background, making it difficult to find by foreigners.<p>

Behind them was nearly the entirety of the Bloodline forces. They had emptied out many of the bases and left only a skeleton crew at the main fort, along with a few shinobi at some of the villages to protect them in case of attack. Mei had the men left use Mizuk Bunshin's to keep up the illusion that all of their bases were full, in order to make sure Yagura suspected nothing. The illusion seemed to work, for the village they were looking at was as quiet as ever.

"When our forces inside begin their assault I want Ao and Hisagi to lead our forces," Mei began, reiterating their plan as a last minute check up. "Choujuro, it will be your job to take on the last member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, Jinin Akebino. Meanwhile, Arashi and I will take on Yagura." That had been the plan that they had come up with during the last six days. The many dissatisfied ninja in Yagura's camp would plant several explosives inside the main buildings in Kiri, blowing them sky high and sending the signal for Mei's forces to begin their attack. Hisagi and Ao would than lead their ninja and meet up with the turn-coat forces inside and begin their take over. The only difficulty they might have would be securing the village with minimal damage to its infrastructure, but hopefully they would be able to accomplish that. At the very least, they wouldn't have to worry about any civilian casualties thanks to the ninja inside taking care to ensure all civilians remained indoors at night and would have several forces guarding the area with the most heavy population.

Choujuro's job would be to deal with one of the few remaining people who could pose a threat. Jinin Akebino, the last loyal member of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. It would be his hardest challenge yet.

However, it was Mei and Arashi who would have the most difficult battle ahead of them. It was their job to kill Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage and jinchūriki for the Sanbi No Kyodaigame (Three-tailed Giant Turtle). Not much was known about the mans abilities except that he was presumed to be a very powerful shinobi due to him being chosen as the Mizukage, and was also one of the few jinchūriki that were able to fully control their tailed beast. All Mei and the others knew was that he wielded what seemed to be a large staff, with two hooks on each end, one larger than the other, along with a green flower on the larger end.

"Hai, Terumi-Sama," Ao said as he and Hisagi saluted before walking back towards their troops. Choujui blushed but saluted as well before leaving Mei and Arashi.

"Your positive your plan will work?" asked Mei, turning to the young red head with steely eyes.

"Of course it will," Said Arashi. "He's a jinchūriki, it will work."

"I hope so..." just than an explosion went off inside Kiri's walls, than another, and another, soon they heard shouting and roars as the battle down below began. "I suppose it's time."

Arashi nodded and began walking off, "in that case we should head out, we have our own fight to get to."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Ao and Hisagi could easily pick up the sound of battle as the gates opened up before them. Inside they saw a scene of chaos as kunai and shuriken were tossed, jutsu were launched and explosions rang out. As the two shinobi and their forces entered the base they were met with one of the turn-coat ninja who was wearing standard Kirigakure jonin garb and had a slash through his forehead protector, the sign they decided to go with to sow they were on the Bloodlines side.<p>

"Report!" barked Ao as he began to take charge.

"All of the explosions went off as planned," the shinobi said, "we managed to inflict maximum damage on the Yagura's biggest supporters and so far there has been no damage to the civilian section of the city. We estimate that we managed to take out a total of one fourth of Yagura's troops already."

"Excellent," Ao said, "in that case we'll be joining this battle with you."

the shinobi nodded before he fell in with the many troops that the bloodline side brought. Hisagi turned to Ao with a grim smile, "you ready?"

"I'm always ready boy," Ao said as he, "back in my day we always had to be ready for battle."

"Right," Hisagi said as he pulled out his katana. The two of them rushed into the city proper with their ninja and began to battle.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Choujuro frowned as he entered the building where Jinin was said to live in, only to find nothing there. He walked further into the building, noting that he was in the main entrance, which seemed to be somewhat similar to a living room, only empty. Just as he was walking further in his instincts had him jumping to his left just in time to dodge a large blur that smashed into the floor where he had been standing. Looking over Choujuro saw that he had finally found the person he was looking for, or would it be more accurate to say that person found him?<p>

Jinin had a dark beard and hair which he had tied into a topknot. The remainder of his face appeared to be rather angular and featured a very protuberant nose. He was wearing a dark-coloured poncho cloth over his standard Swordsman attire, consisting of a sleeveless dark shirt and matching pants along with a waist-guard, pin-striped arm and leg-warmers typical of his village and Kirigakure's forehead protector. He also had bandages around his neck.

His sword was the **Kabutowari** (兜割; Literally meaning "Helmet Splitter") is one of the swords of the Kiri Shinobigatana Nananin Shu. The sword itself consists of a giant axe and hammer, linked end-to-end by a flat thin leather-like rope, which together are referred to as a "_bluntsword_" (鈍刀, _dontō_) that is said to be able to break through any defense.

"Well, if it isn't little Choujuro," the man said in a congenial voice, "the last I saw of you, you were on your way towards becoming one of the new seven swordsman."

"Jinin-sempai," Choujuro said in what he hoped was a confident voice.

"Hahaha, your still the same as ever, kid," Jinin said as he readied his Sword. "You'll never beat me with that kind of under confident attitude!" The last loyal swordsman of the mist charged at Choujuro, the axe part of his sword lifted over his shoulder before he swung it down. Choujuro dodged, only to have the hammer part of the blade coming straight at him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>With all the Chaos going around Arashi and Mei had an easier time of getting to the Mizukage's mansion then they had expected. Of course, given that they had specifically told the ninja who had planted to explosives to leave the Mizukage's residence alone, maybe it wasn't all that surprising. Mei went over to the door and pulled on it, but had no success of opening it. "It's locked," she muttered, turning to Arashi who smirked.<p>

"Leave it to me," he said as he lifted his hand and grasped his sword. Because he had not wanted to waist time having to summon his blade every time he used it in battle, he had one of the blacksmiths that worked to make the Bloodline factions weapons build him a sheath. The sheath was actually made of leather with a slick metal coating the inside. It was pure black in color, but with golden diamond pattern running along its length. At the end of the sheath, near the hilt of his sword, was a golden wolf, howling. It was a very special sheath, especially since Arashi had placed several seals on it underneath the paint.

He pulled out his sword and in one fluid motion made a downward slice. There was a flash of light that signified the blades movement before Arashi re-sheathed the sword. The blade made a clicking noise as it settled into the sheath, at the same time as the noise was made the door fell apart, showing that it had been cut into multiple pieces.

"There, now for the fun part," Arashi muttered as the two of them entered side by side, ready for anything that they may run into. The first room they had entered appeared to be a reception room. It was large, with several tables, chairs and couches placed along the wall, near the front was a desk with a staircase on one side and a large set of double-doors on the other.

"The doors lead to the room where the Kirigakure council used to meet," said Mei.

"Then I'm guessing the stairs leads to Yagura's place?"

"Yes, the entire second and third floor lead to Yagura's mansion," Mei nodded, "the second floor holds his house, twelve rooms consisting six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study, a library and a dojo. The third floor is where Yagura's office is."

"You seem to know your way around," Arashi said as they began walking upstairs.

"Before the bloodline wars began my father spent a lot of time here," Mei admitted, "he would often take me with him so I know a lot about the layout of this place."

"Makes sense," Arashi said, "so, where will we find Yagura."

"I suspect his office." Arashi nodded and the two began making their way upstairs.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Choujuro's eyes widened and he only had a split second to dodge the hammer before it would smash into him. He jumped into the air, and grabbed Hiramekarei by both hilts and released it's bandages. He channeled chakra into his dual-handled sword, forming the shape of a giant hammer and swung it with as much force as he could on his way down.<p>

Jinin jumped out of the way as the large chakra hammer smashed into the ground where he was, a good thing for him as the area he was standing exploded and large chunks of the floor were sent flying. A large dust cloud billowed from where Choujuro hit, dispersing only when the blue haired swordsman ran through it, his sword already changing shape into a large blade.

"Hahaha! That's it! That's what I'm looking for!" Jinin shouted as he jumped out of the way of Choujuro's swing. The large chakra blade sliced through the wall that the other swordsman had been standing behind like it was butter. Jinin came in with his hammer and axe sword ready to strike, "now we can get to the fun part!"

Choujuro had only a moment to dodge as Jinin brought his ace down, sidestepping the attack before rolling across the floor as the hammer came down on the flat part of Jinin's hammer, causing the floor to literally split open. In retaliation to the attack, Choujuro came in and swung his own blade, only to have it blocked by Jinin's axe. "Nice try," said the man before he brought his hammer and smacked Choujuro's blade, causing the blue-haired swordsman to lose his balance, "But not nice enough!"

Jinin swung his hammer down again as Choujuro tried to bring his sword to bear, knowing he wouldn't be able to dodge. The hammer struck his blade and the younger swordsman winced as he was sent flying back. He landed on the ground some feet away and had to push himself back up. Standing on his feet, Choujuro swayed a little before he could shake off the powerful blow.

Looking up he was just in time to Jinin coming back at him, his axe coming in swinging while he held his hammer above his head. Choujuro swung his Hiramekarei back and channeled more chakra into his blade, morphing its shape into a mase. He swung it forward just as Jinin brought his axe down.

The two blades struck each other, causing a massive explosion between them due to the force behind their attacks. Both of the swordsman were blown back, channeling chakra to the bottom of their feet so they wouldn't skid across the ground the the resounding shock wave their clash evoked.

"Haha, you've gotten pretty good with that sword," Jinin complimented with a grin, "that should make this battle that much more exciting!"

Choujuro grit his teeth as the other swordsman charged towards him, he knew he couldn't afford to stay on the defensive like he had indefinitely, yet he didn't know what he could do to catch the older and more experienced ninja off guard. The man was extremely skilled at using the axe and hammer in conjunction with each other. Also, the 'swords Kabutowari's construction allowed the weapons to retain their individual capabilities and thanks to Jinin's expertise, both the axe and the hammer can be exploited to their fullest.

Even though he knew that the older man was stronger than him, stronger and more experienced, Choujuro had no intention of giving up. He gripped his sword by both handles and charged, swinging down at Jinin who raised his axe to block it. At the last second Choujuro channeled chakra into his blade, creating a large scythe. Because the scythe's blade stuck out nearly two feet out from the sword itself, the blade continued on unimpeded.

Jinin's eyes widened as he saw the scythe coming towards him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>after reaching the third floor Arashi and Mei found themselves walking along a long corridor, it was dark, and the only light available was the small lamps located on the wall. Arashi had a hand on his Ookami Hitokage while Mei was holding a hand seal in case she needed to shoot of a quick jutsu. Both were feeling weary, they had been walking through the mansion and had yet to run into the Mizukage or anyone else. Neither had been sure what to expect, but they had not expected to just be allowed to walk anywhere in the house.<p>

At the end of the corridor they came upon a plain, white door. "This is where the Mizukage's office is located," Mei whispered.

"And you think he's in there?" asked Arashi, gripping his blade a little tighter.

"_**He's in there alright Naruto-kun,"**_ came a voice from within his seal.

"_Akane-chan?"_

"_**I can sense the Sanbi's presence, he's in there."**_

"...There really isn't anywhere else I can imagine him being," Mei's voice snapped Arashi out of his inner dialogue and he realized that the auburn haired woman had been talking. "We would have known if he had joined the battle, and we haven't seen him anywhere else in the Mizukage mansion. He has to be in here."

"Right," Arashi moved and grabbed onto the door handle. He looked over at Mei who gave him a nod and in one swift motion, opened the door and ran in.

"You took your time getting here," Arashi stared at the man standing before him as Mei also entered. The person had his back turned to them and was looking out of the window, "I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here."

"Yagura," Mei said in a tense voice.

Yagura turned around, giving Arashi the chance to study the man he had heard so much about. Yagura had messy grey hair, pink pupiless eyes and what seemed to be a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye all the way down his cheek. He had a dull expression and was wearing a grey undershirt with short mesh sleeves which had a metal plate of a Kirigakure forehead protector sewn onto it over which he also wore a green poncho, a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a green indument over his pants. He had on a pair of brown boots opened on the back, and on his back he was carrying a staff-like pole weapon with uneven hooks with a green flower on the end of the larger hook.

"Mei-san, this is a pleasant surprise," Arashi found it odd that the man actually sounded pleased to see Mei, and not in the psychotic "I'm going to kill you" way, but in the "Oh, it's really good to see a friend" way. "I trust you have been doing well?"

"I suppose you could say that," Mei said with a harsh glare, "if by doing well you mean watching as a man you once respected more than anyone else go about butchering his own people, then yes, I have been doing well."

"I only do what I must to protect those who do not wish for war," Yagura said.

"Those who do not wish for war," Mei muttered angrily before shouting, "how can you possibly say that when this entire war is your fault! Everything that happened to Kirigakure is because of you! The Kaguya massacre, Zabuza's coup, the rebellion, it's all your fault!"

"No, my dear girl, it's only the fault of the people who hold Kekkei Genkei," Yagura said. "The monsters who are used in war."

"There used in war because people like you start war!" Mei yelled angrily. She went through several hand seals, ending on a tiger seal, "I'm done talking to you! Yoton: Youtama (Lava Release: Lava Globs)!" Mei's cheeks bulged before she spat out several large globs of lava, all of them heading straight towards Yagura.

* * *

><p><strong>The true battle is starting and the end of the Civil War Arch draws to a close. What will happen to our young hero? Tune in next time for another episode of Dragon Ball Z!<strong>

**Er...no wait, that's not right.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Alright, listen up you pansy ass sons of bitches, cuz I'm only gonna say this once! My name is Ibiki Moreno and I'm the proctor for this test – wait, that's not right. Ahem, my name is Pokemaster12, and I don't own Naruto. There, is that right?**

**Chapter 12: The End of Bloody Mist**

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><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Mei's cheeks bulged before she spat out several large globs of lava, all of them heading straight towards Yagura. Before they could reach the grey haired young man however, the young Mizukage's own cheeks bulged, right before he let loose with a large torrent of water that smashed into the large globs of lava. The lava not only hardened into rock, but the water technique was so powerful that the hardened rock was annihilated before the jet of water continued on towards Mei and Arashi.<p>

Both of them jumped out of the way, letting the water smash the wall behind them, destroying it. Arashi was shocked at the amount of damage that single attack had done, not only had Yagura's water technique completely overpowered Mei's lava globs, but the water had been strong enough to continue on and destroy a wall that Mei told him was reinforced with chakra enhanced brick.

"_**It's the Sanbi,"**_ Akane told him even as Naruto began going through several hand seals and shot out a ball of lightning. Yagura saw it coming and dodged out of the way, only to run afoul of more lava globs from Mei. He quickly replaced himself with his chair and shot out several powerful water bullets at the auburn haired woman, who dodged them accordingly. **_"The Sanbi has ultimate power over water, so you can expect all of his water jutsu to be supercharged."_**

"_Oh, well that's just great,"_ Arashi thought sarcastically as he went through several more hand seals and smashed his hands on the ground. Lightning arched out of his hands and raced towards Yagura, who jumped into the air in order to dodge the lightning attacks. However, it seemed he had forgotten about Mei who had already gone through her hand seals and was just waiting for a chance to launch her jutsu.

"Yoton: Kyotama (Lava Release: Large Lava Ball)!" Mei shot out a large glob of lava that formed itself into a ball as it traveled towards Yagura. Just as it looked like it was about the consume the Mizukage however, the entire ball of molten rock dispersed, starting from the center where a condensed ball of water was seen speeding towards Mei. "Damn it!" the rebel leader jumped out of the way just before the ball hit her, letting it strike the ground. This proved to be a good thing for as soon as the ball hit the floor it ended up blasting straight through it, emitting a loud crack as it busted through wood and brick.

"Unbelievable," muttered Arashi,_ he managed to shoot off a ball of water so condensed that it not only destroyed Mei's jutsu, but also passed right through it like it wasn't even there. Not only that but it still had enough power to plow through an entire floor. If this is the power of its jinchūriki, then I'd hate to see what kind of power the Sanbi has._

Not one to sit by Arashi moved forward and attempted to engage the man in taijutsu. He soon found out this was a mistake, the moment his fist made contact with Yagura's face it felt like he had hit steel. Pulling back he saw that the left half of the Mizukage's face now looked like a miniature Sanbi, complete with the spiky horned head, jutting jaws and glowing red eyes.

"Oh shit!" Arashi shouted as Yagura's left arm likewise turned into armored and clawed hand, smacking him away. The red head smashed into a wall, causing a large crater to form before he fell down. "Note...to self...never fight a jinchūriki who can turn parts of his body into a hardened turtle in close combat."

he looked up and saw Yagura being firing water bullets at Mei and became a mere blur as he ran towards the attack, he appeared in front of the auburn haired woman and went through several hand seals. Opening his mouth he fired off several powerful blasts of lightning that struck the water bullets one by one, destroying them before they could get near either of them.

Mei capitulated on the small lull in combat that caused and went through more hand seals, "Yoton: Yousen (Lava Release: Lava Beam)!" a condensed beam of lava, that looked more like some kind of laser beam, shot from Mei's mouth and raced towards Yagura. As it reached the Mizukage a wall of water appeared out of thin air to protect the gray haired man. However, it didn't seem to do anything as the beam continued on unimpeded. When the water dispersed both Mei and Arashi frowned as they saw no trace of the Yondaime Mizukage.

"Where did he go?" asked Mei, looking around in an effort to spot him. Arashi likewise was scanning the room with his eyes, hoping to find some trace of Yagura. However, he could find no trace of the man.

"_**He's below you!"** _Arashi's eyes widened and he reacted to the words on instinct, grabbing Mei and jumping away from their position just as a large streak of water ran blew the floor to hell. Large slabs of concrete flew away from the geyser of water and Mei and Arashi found themselves having to weave through the chunks. Even before the last of the floor had finished its flight, several more geysers began shooting up from the ground.

"He's below us!" Mei shouted as she did her best to dodge the geysers of water that kept sprouting.

"No really? Whatever gave you that idea!" were it not for the fact that he was facing a jinchūriki Kage, Arashi would have rolled his eyes. He grabbed Mei by the arm and quickly pulled her across the room, heading towards the large window that Yagura had been looking out of before the battle started.

He thrust out his palm and a large blast of wind smashed into the glass, shattering it before he jumped out, pulling Mei with him. His companions eyes widened as they found themselves in free-fall, but before they could continue plummeting to the ground, Arashi threw his sword. He grabbed onto the chain, which lengthened the further it got from him. The sword impaled itself on the wall and the red head yanked on the chain hard, pulling both him and Mei towards the Mizukage mansion.

They hit the wall and began channeling chakra to their feet in order to stick. "Well that wasn't very pleasant," Mei said as Arashi yanked on the chain and pulled his sword back to him, placing it in his sheath. "Let's try not to do that again hm?"

"I'll do my best," Arashi said absently as he began to move, "now let's find him before he finds us."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

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><p>"HAHAHAHA! YES! THATS IT!" Jinin exclaimed as Choujuro watched the man in a mix of fascinated horror. There was a large gash going down the side of the mans chest, the wound was deep, with blood flowing out like a river. And yet the man seemed unaffected by the wound, as he let known by his laugh, "THIS IS WHAT I LIVE FOR!" He seemed to come down from his eye and looked at Choujuro, a smirk on his face, "now... let's get to the true battle!"<p>

Jinin came at Choujuro, twice as fast as he was before. He swung his axe, forcing the less experienced sword user to block, only to be blown back when the man smashed his hammer on the blunt side of his axe. The force of the blow sent Choujuro sailing backwards and he just barely managed to flip himself around so that his feet was facing the wall. He landed on his feet, channeling chakra to the bottom as he clung to the wall.

He looked up and his eyes widened at seeing Jinin already swinging at him. Choujuro jumped off the wall just as the mans axe hit it, getting stuck before he destroyed it using his axe hammer combination. As Choujuro landed on his feet the man came at him again and he was forced to dodge, lest he make the same mistake he had the last time he tried to block.

A game of cat and mouse began and Choujuro knew he was definitely the mouse. He had no moving room and no time to actually launch an attack or counter attack to the man, due to how viciously Jinin was fighting him. The few times Choujuro tried to actually use his sword he found that himself having to pull back and dodge. It was as if the man didn't care he died so long as he took his enemies with him.

"Come on Choujuro!" Jinin yelled as he swung his axe again. Choujuro jumped back, he could actually feel the slice the blade made with the air. "You can't win if you keep fighting like a pussy! Fight me for real!"

Choujuro grit his teeth as he dodged another attack. Gaining some distance he channeled more chakra to his blade, forming a large blue hammer that almost looked similar to Jinin's, only on several orders of the magnitude larger. With a loud yell he slammed the hammer into the ground, causing the floor to split and chuck of ground, as well as create an effective smoke screen.

"Well, this is more like it," Jinin said, right as Choujuro came out of the dust, his chakra hammer already in motion. Choujuro swung once again, forcing Jinin to block, only to be surprised when he was blown back. He managed to right himself while in mid air and landed on the ground, skidding backwards for several feet. When he finally stopped and looked up, it was to see Choujuro already swinging at him.

Smirking he brought up his axe and blocked the strike, then he smashed the blunt end of his axe with his hammer. However by that time Choujuro had already backed off, making Jinin lose his balance, he did his best to correct himself as Choujuro came in with another heavy handed swing. Having no time to dodge Jinin was forced to block. He lifted his blade just in time to have it take the blow for him and was sent flying back. Ha landed on the wall and used chakra to cling to it.

"It seems you were holding back on me," he told Choujuro, who was sweating and breathing heavily after having used so much chakra. "That's good, I just hope you can keep this up."

"I-I won't let Mei-Sama down," Choujuro said as he hefted his blade, "I will defeat you!"

"Mei-Sama?" Jinin questioned, before smirking, "does Choujuro have a little crush on the alliance leader? Hahaha! Well she is quite the looker so I can't blame you. I would try and get with her myself if she weren't Mizukage-Sama's enemy." the man readied his blade, "Well, whatever, we're not here to talk about your love life, we're here to fight. Now come at me with all you've got!"

he pushed himself off the wall, flying towards Choujuro so quickly you could only see a slight blur. Choujuri readied his blade, making a sword nearly three times larger then his current one with his chakra. He would only have one shot at this, so he had to make it count. As Jinin came in and swung at him, Choujuro jumped, pushing himself as high into the air as he could go and flipping over the more experienced swordsman. As he came down, Choujuro swung his blade with a loud yell. He could see the other mans eyes widen even as Jinin brought up both his axe and blade to block.

There was a loud crash as the two forces met, an explosion of energy from the blades opposing each other. Dust was kicked up, making it impossible to see the victor. When it finally dissipated it showed the two standing there, Choujuro hunched over with his blade set into the ground, a large gash where it sat. His hands were on the handle and he was breathing heavily, with shaking arms and sweat poring down his face.

Jinin watched as the handles for his two blade split apart, "Hehe, nice," he said as blood began to spray out of his face. He fell backwards, hitting the floor with a heavy thud. Choujuro looked at the man and saw that his eyes had filmed over and he wasn't breathing.

"I won," Choujuro slumped to the floor as exhaustion set in, "I can't believe I won."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Arashi and Mei soon found themselves locked in battle with the Yondaime Mizukage once again. After they managed to climb back inside of the Mizukage mansion via one of the many windows, they had searched out Yagura and found him inside of the room right below his office. That was when the battle had truly begun in earnest.<p>

"Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)!" Mei had sped through several hands seals before launching out a large flame that soon took the shape from a dragon. As it charged the flames divided and were launched in three different directions at once, the left side, right side, and another flame that went in for a frontal assault.

However, Yagura merely raised his hands as if he were about to conduct an orchestra. Water soon appeared out of thin air and began forming a vortex around his person. The flames hit the water, hissing as the two jutsu created a lot of steam. By this time Arashi had finished his own hand signs and used one of the jutsu he knew but hadn't quite mastered yet, "Raiton: Kuropansa (Lightning Release: Black Panther)!" a large black panther-like creature launched itself from Arashi's body and charged into the mist. There was a large explosion that caused the white mist created from the fire and water jutsu to get blow away, revealing that Yagura was no longer there.

The two partners narrowed there eyes and jumped out of the way just in time to dodge a large water dragon that smashed into the ground and tore through the floor, leaving them with a view of the council room below. They looked up to see Yagura was on the ceiling.

The mans cheeks bulged and he spat out several large water bullets. As Mei jumped away Arashi unsheathed his sword and got into a stance with his feet spread apart and his blade near his face with the edge pointed skyward. "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Kaitana (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Dark Release: Cutting Blade)!" slashing his sword in a horizontal swing, a large, black crescent moon shaped blade of chakra was released from the blade. It smashed straight into the water bullets, cutting through them as if they weren't even there and moving on towards Yagura.

Or at least, where Yagura had been.

Before Arashi had even launched his jutsu Yagura had moved, and so rather then cut into the Jinchūriki Kage, they sliced through the roof and continued on its way to impact against the third floor roof before cutting through that.

"So your an Uzumaki?" Arashi's eyes widened as he spun around and just barely blocked a blow from Yagura's staff. "This is most interesting, I didn't you think there were any of you left," the Sanbi Jinchūriki said as he slid his staff down the length of Ookami Hitokage's blade, before catching the hilt with his hook and pulling. Realizing what was about to happen, Arashi let go of his blade and grabbed onto the chain at the end. When Yagura pulled, the blade went flying away, but the length of the chain extended, allowing Arashi to pull the blade back, even as he jumped away from the Yondaime Mizukage who tried to gut him with one of the hooks on his staff.

"Katon: Gōryūka No Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)!" Mei compressed a large amount of chakra inside of her body before releasing a large fireball in the shape of the dragon. Arashi had already jumped out of the way, allowing it to head right for Yagura. Not quite finished yet, Mei launched several more of the great dragon shaped fireballs, all of them heading towards the Mizukage.

Yagura began to move, running up the walls and onto the ceiling as the techniques smashed into the wall he was at, destroying it so utterly that there was nothing left. The explosion from the jutsu sent Arashi skidding back before he could channel chakra to his feet and stick to the ground. He cursed himself for having not moved far enough away, aside from being forced back he also felt the front side of his face getting second degree burns. He could only consider himself lucky that his body had a natural predisposition against fire thanks to Akane.

Mei soon jumped next to him, breathing heavily from the battle so far. "Are you alright?" she asked, having seen him get nearly hit from her jutsu.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but this buildings not," Arashi said, not even deigning to look at Mei as he kept all of his attention focused on Yagura who was still standing on the ceiling. "We need to take this somewhere else or this entire building will collapse around our ears."

"Then we need to lead him away somehow," Mei said.

"Or push him out," Arashi muttered as he got a look in his eyes. "Mei, I need you to start firing jutsu at him, get him near one of the windows!"

Mei looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, at seeing the slight glint in his eyes she nodded and began going through hand seals. "Katon: Gōkakyū No Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" Mei shot a large fireball at Yagura, whose cheeks began to bulge and he countered by launching a powerful jet-like stream of water at the jutsu.

Mei cursed as she was forced to dodge the water as it went through her technique like it was made of paper. She began more hand seals, then held a hand to her mouth, "Katon: Hōsenka No Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!" Mei shot several small flames, nearly twice the size of her head, out of her mouth. They soared towards Yagura who tried to shoot them down with water bullets, however Mei, who thanks to having to train with Fire nature chakra at a young age due to her Kekkei Genkei, was a master of the fire element. She took direct control of the fireballs with her chakra and had them dodge the water bullets.

Yagura was forced to dodge the many fireballs, running along the ceiling as they hit the ground, or ceiling, behind him. Each time she ran out of fireballs, Mei would launch the jutsu again, making sure that the Yondaime Mizukage never had a moment to actually launch any attacks at her or Arashi. She stopped when the man ended up standing in front of one of the windows.

She did this because Arashi was already right in front of Yagura, his sword in mid-swing and glowing with Hiton Chakra. "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Hiton: Hioshi (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Light Release: Light Push)!" The Yondaime Mizukage managed to lift his staff to block. The moment blade met staff, Ookami Hitokage released a powerful, bright light that spread out in a ripple pattern before getting sucked back into the blade and releasing a powerful shock wave in Yagura's direction. The Yondaime Mizukage was sent flying away from Arashi, smashing into and through the window, causing the glass to shatter as he fell to the streets below.

"Well that was fun," Arashi said as he took several huffing breaths.

"If you think this is enjoyable, I don't really think I like your idea of fun," Mei said as she stood beside him.

Arashi smirked, "bah, beating up Kage's is a hobby of mine. At least, I think I'll make it a hobby of mine when this is all over." He stepped onto the ledge and looked at Mei with a grin, "well, lets not keep the man waiting." With that he jumped out of the window and fell down to the ground below, flipping mid leap before landing on his feet. He stood up just as Mei landed beside him and they looked over to see Yagura stopping out of a building where the wall collapsed. "Damn, I didn't think my technique was strong enough to toss him through a building."

Mei rolled her eyes while Yagura stared at them impassively. "Your abilities are impressive, I must commend you on making it this far," dark blue Youki began to leak from his body, surrounding him and gaining three large shrimp-like tails. "However, its time to end this."

"I really hope you know what your doing," Mei said to Arashi as she prepared for battle.

Arashi grinned as he pulled out his blade, "Relax, of course I do, I think."

"That's not what I wanted to hear," Mei said, "you know if you weren't so cute I would melt you for saying things like that."

"Whatever, just get ready," Arashi moved into his stance just as the jinchūriki-cloaked Yagura burst forward. However the way he was moving was far different then normal, instead of running towards, the Mizukage was literally creating water as he skated along the surface. "Damn, that's some serious chakra nature manipulation there. It's too bad I'm not a water user, Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Kodouran (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Dark Release: Great Upheaval)!"

slamming his blade into the ground, Arashi caused the entire earth before him to split apart. Dark pillars of chakra burst forth in front of Yagura who was forced to stop his head on assault and jump back. The pillars blocked his view of the two, and when they died down he saw that Mei and Arashi were jumping away on the rooftops. Yagura frowned before he followed after them.

The two shinobi ran towards the outer walls of Kiri, pushing chakra to their legs in order to increase their speed. Arashi looked behind him to see Yagura gaining and growled as he went through several hand seals. When he got to the last seal he jumped in the air and spun around, shooting out a large bolt of lightning before finishing his rotation and continuing his run.

Yagura had been forced to dodge the lightning jutsu as it was his Bijuu's elemental weakness and thus, his elemental weakness. This allowed Mei and Arashi to gain some more distance from him and they managed to make it to the wall. They jumped off the building they were on and spun their bodies so that they hit the wall with their feet, and then they began to run up the wall, moving over it and heading out towards the bluff where their ninja had been just prior to the battle. They both stopped and turned as Yagura made his way towards them.

"So you both decided to stop running?" he said.

"Oh, we were never running to begin with," Arashi commented lightly, "we just wanted to make sure there was nothing in the way of this battle, wouldn't want to kill any of the innocent citizens of Kiri just to take out a piece of trash like you."

"I'm grateful that you did that," Yagura said as the Youki around him grew even more, "after all, that means I don't have to hold back." He threw his hand out, it grew into the three-tailed hand and he slammed it into the ground where Mei and Arashi were standing. Both of them jumped out of the way, splitting up as they went through individual hand seals.

"Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet)!" A large dragon like head rose out of the ground next to Mei and fired several concentrated bullets of mud. A few seconds later Arashi shot a large blast of fire out of his mouth, combining his flame technique with Mei's earth technique. The now flaming projectiles were launched at Yagura whose only response was to smash them with an enlarged Sanbi hand. Seeing how ineffective their attack was, Mei and Arashi decided to pull out their more powerful techniques.

"Katon: Gōryūka No Jutsu!" Once again Mei began shooting out the thirty foot diameter fireball dragons that were all launched at Yagura, who responded by creating a large wave of water in front of him, nearly sixty feet tall and seventy feet wide. As soon as the large dragons came in the water collapsed on top of them, snuffing the fireballs out and forcing Mei to jump as the water continued towards her. She landed on the water, which began to pour over the edge of the bluff as well as down the hill towards the treeline.

Before it could get too far Arashi appeared on top of it and stuck his hands in the water, sending a powerful burst of electricity towards Yagura. The red head was ecstatic to see one of his attacks finally strike gold, as Yagura let loose a scream of agony white bolts of electricity traveled over his body. Thanks to the Sanbi being water element, his lightning attack was ten times more affective against Yagura than it would be on anyone else.

Not wanting to let up his assault, Arashi went through several more hand seals. Opening his mouth a large bolt of lightning shot out and sped towards Ygaura, with bolts of the errant energy striking and tearing up the ground as it moved. It was unfortunate for Arashi that Yagura managed to recover before the lightning jutsu could make it to him, and he was able to jump out of the way.

In retaliation for the attack he shot several large, nearly twice the size of a human, water bullets at Arashi. "Damn it!" the red head shouted as he went through a series of hand seals, he crossed his arms and then waved them in an "X" pattern. Large green blades of wind chakra shot towards one of the water bullets, cutting straight through it and allowing Arashi to jump at that spot, dodging the other large water attacks. A good thing too as the water bullets he didn't hit smashed into the ground and had enough force behind them to leave large craters that soon began to fill with mud.

Arashi landed on the ground and sighed in relief, thinking he was safe for the moment. That thought was soon dashed as Yagura shot a water javelin at him. A look of shock came to Arashi's face as the javelin pierced his chest.

Only for him to burst into a puff of smoke.

Yagura's eyes actually widened in surprise, and it was that single moment of surprise that allowed Mei to get behind him undetected and launch a powerful kick to the back of his head. The grey haired Kage was sent flying parallel to the ground. In front of him Arashi appeared, planting a hand on the ground and launching a powerful kick to his face, changing the course of Yagura's body and sending him into the air.

As he reached the apex of his climb, another Arashi appeared above him, this one spun around, lightning forming around in foot and taking the shape of a wolf as he launched an axe kick on the Mizukage's head. Yagura screamed in pain, even as he was sent sailing into the ground. When he hit there was a large explosion of dust and rock, making it impossible to see if Yagura had been defeated.

Arashi landed on the ground and dropped to one knee, panting. He was really hoping that had put the grey haired kid down, this fight had been going for a long time, well over an hour and he was beginning to tire. Just as he thought this an infusion of energy rushed through him. He smiled, knowing who was helping him refill his reserves.

"_Thanks Akane-chan."_

"_**Anytime."**_

"Do you think we got him?" asked Mei as she came up alongside of him.

"Kami I hope so," Arashi said jokingly, "I don't know if I have it in me to go another round."

just as he spoke Akane's voice came to him in an urgent yell, _**"Naruto-kun! He's not dead!"**_

Arashi's eyes widened, and he had just enough time to grab Mei just as a large explosion of Youki came out of the crater. The two of them were able to bear witness as out of the crater, Yagura's body began to grown and expand. His body turned an greyish blue as his limbs began to grow, at the same time, large armor plates started protruding out of the skin while a spiky shell formed along the middle. This was soon followed by three large tails whipping out behind it, just as a large head sprouted out from the neck. Both of them looked up to see a sight that had sent many shinobi running and cowering in fear.

Dwarfing over the two of them, standing even larger than the Mizukage mansion, the Sanbi No Kyodaigame stood in front of the two ninja. The Sanbi primarily resembled a large turtle, but with a crab-like shell, and three shrimp-like tails. It had a pair of human-like arms and hands, but no hind-legs. Its right eye was constantly closed, indicating some sort of possible injury. At least, Arashi hoped it had some kind of injury, because he couldn't see any other weak point on the hardened carapace.

"Arashi," Mei said quietly as she stared at the large creature, "I hope you have a plan for defeating this."

Arashi gave a weak chuckle, "get a really big hammer to crack its shell?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Down in the village below the fighting had already stopped, with the aid of the turn-coats to the Mizukage, the bloodline faction had won with minimum casualties suffered. Now the two groups that had joined forces were busy getting all those who were injured to the medical station that had been set up just inside the village walls, clearing away debris and getting an estimate on the casualties that both sides had suffered. The Mizukage's forces who had not joined them were currently being contained to one of the more confined areas of the village, where Mei would hopefully decide on what should be done with them.<p>

It was at that moment that a foul chakra descended upon the village, so powerful was this chakra and killing intent that several of the lower ranked ninja dropped to their knees and began shaking. Many of the jonin looked around, wide eyed, wondering what could possibly emit such a vile chakra.

"Hisagi!" Ao shouted, gaining the tall mans attention. He pointed up towards the bluff they had been standing on before the assault began, "up there!" Many of the other ninja looked up and gasped at the sight of the Sanbi on the bluff. "Terumi-Sama and Arashi-san are up there fighting that thing!"

"What!" Hisagi shouted. "What do they think their doing! Everyone knows you can't fight a jinchūriki when its using the full power of their Bijuu!" He looked up at where the Sanbi was and saw a large wall being raised up, blocking it from view. "Damn it! What should we do!"

"Nothing," Ao sighed tiredly, even as Hisagi tossed him an incredulous look, "there isn't anything we can do. If we tried to help them, we'd just get in the way." Hisagi didn't like hearing that, but he knew that it was the truth.

"Damn, Arashi, if you and Mei don't get out of this alive I'll drag you back from hell and beat the shit out of you."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"Ok..." Mei huffed as she pulled her hands off he giant earth wall she had made. The entirety of the wall nearly eighty feet tall, fifteen feet thick, and covered the entire cliff side, that way if the Sanbi used a large scale jutsu it wouldn't fall over and destroy Kiri. Mei turned to look at Arashi, "now what?"<p>

"Now we need to herd it into the ocean somehow," Arashi said.

"are you mad?" asked Mei, "That thing is a water demon! They thrive in the water!"

"Yes, but I have a lightning element, so I'll have an advantage," Arashi shot back, "it won't matter where he is in the water, all I have to do is channel some electricity and I can injure him."

Mei sighed and muttered, "I can't believe I'm going through with this." She looked at Arashi, "ok, so what do we do?"

"You have a strong water element, use the biggest and area wide jutsu you have."

"Right," Mei began going through several hand seals as she stared at the Sanbi that had been oddly quiet. "Suiton: Daibbakufu No Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)!" A large amount of water rose from the ground, extending over a large scale, it surged and rose up to several dozen meters high. Then it streamed down to the ground in one big cascade, much like a gigantic waterfall. In truth, the jutsu looked more like a tidal wave than a waterfall as its name suggested.

The jutsu smashed straight into the Sanbi, who roared, sounding more out of annoyance and anger than anything else. The amount of water that the jutsu used actually held enough force to lift the giant turtle and send it down the slope of the cliff, crushing the trees that were in it's path. And when the jutsu ended, the entire land looked like it had been struck by a natural disaster.

Mei dropped to knees as she let the jutsu end, "there... it's done..."

"Are you alright?" asked Arashi.

"I'm... fine," Mei replied, still breathing heavily, "I don't have much chakra left however."

"Than stay here," said Arashi, "I'll finish this." Before Mei could even respond the red head had jumped off of the wall. He hit the ground and pushed himself into a sprint as he ran down the slope, towards the edge of the island.

"_**What's the plan?" **_asked Akane as she watched the events through his eyes.

"_I'm going to need your help,"_ Arashi said, _"no human can stand up to a Bijuu, so I'm going to need your help to deal with this. I didn't want to rely on you in front of Mei however, the last thing we need is to have our cover blown because I used your youki."_

"_**Good thinking"**_ Akane said, **_"don't worry, I'll be here to help as always."_**

"_Thanks."_ Arashi ran onto the water and not even a second later the Sanbi burst out of the water, snapping at Arashi with his jaws. However, the red head was more then up to the task of dodging, jumping high into the air before shooting a large wind bullet from his mouth. The wind bullet smacked into the giant turtle, and though it didn't do much damage, it did a good job of pushing the Bijuu back into the water.

"_How much of your youki do you suggest I use?"_ asked Arashi.

Akane took a moment to think before giving her answer, _**"well, six of my tails have fully integrated with you, so you can use that many. However, if you were to do that it would alert the humans to my presence. I would suggest three, the use of three should be masked by the Sanbi's presence, and you'll be stronger at three tails than he is anyways."**_

"_Got it, juice me!"_Arashi could feel Akane pouring Youki through the seal. A red filmy haze covered his form, his nails, both feet and toe-nails lengthened into claws, his canines became fangs, the hair on his head began to look even more spiky and hard and his whiskers thickened, making his appearance look feral. The eyes remained unchanged for the most part, they were still a deep blue color, however black slits ran down the middle.

"_**Your set, I'll do what I can to direct the youki since you have no real experience in using my power,"**_ Akane said.

"_Thanks!"_ Arashi watched as a large beam of water shot out from the Sanbi's mouth. The attack was easy enough to dodge, Arashi merely jumped out of the way. Opening his mouth he released a loud roar that created a shock wave. The shock wave smashed into the Sanbi, causing it too roar out in pain and anger. It glared at Arashi balefully and this time shot two water beams at him.

Those were also dodged as Arashi began to move in close. A giant hand came up and tried to swat him away, but he skated to the left and then jumped on the hand. Holding up his left hand Arashi formed a spinning sphere of red Youki, **"Rasgenan!"**smashing the Youki onto the Sanbi's hand the red head watched as his jutsu began to drill through. **"Yeah! Not so tough are you now you son of bitch!"**

The Sanbi roared and tried to get Arashi off by smashing his hand into the water. However, by that time Arashi had already abandoned ship, as it were, and had opened his mouth as Akane began channeling mass amounts of Youki to his throat. **"Kitsune-bi!" **a massive white beam of concentrated flames shot forward, smashing into the Sanbi. The effects of the attack were fascinating.

The Sanbi was a demon of water, due to fire being weak against water, most fire jutsu would never work against a being like the three tails. Unfortunately for the Sanbi, Kyuubi's attacks were far more than just fire. The kitsune-bi produced the hottest flame that could be found on the mortal plane, even the underworlds flames could not match hers. Only the sun goddess, Amaterasu herself, could match and overpower the flames of Kyuubi. As such, despite the Sanbi's element being water, the white flames were not only enough to hurt it, but Arashi could see the armored shell where the attack had hit was literally melting.

Roaring in anger the massive beast dunked itself under the water to try and dispel the flame. It worked, as even a kitsune-bi couldn't last under water. However, the damage had already been done. When the Sanbi came back up, Arashi could clearly see the large melted circle in the shell from his attack.

"_**That will be his weak spot," **_Akane told Arashi, _**"if you can hit that area with a high-powered concentrated attack you can beat him."**_

"_Oh, well just let me dig into my super Bijuu killing jutsu and see what I can dig up,"_ Arashi replied, somewhat sarcastically. Don't get him wrong, he had quite a few high powered jutsu, most of the ninjutsu he had been using in his battle would have killed a normal ninja. However, Bijuu were demons, not just demons but demons that were created by the gods and had special abilities that their gods had given them. _"Seriously, Akane-chan, how do you expect me to deal a blow severe enough to kill that?"_

"**_Don't worry,"_** Akane said in a slightly care free tone, **_"I'll think of something for you, just do your thing for now!"_**

"_My thing?" _Arashi raised an eyebrow, _"What do you mean my -" _he stopped his inner dialogue and looked up as a shadow crossed over his face. His eyes widened as he saw one of the Sanbi's large tales bearing down on him. "Oh shi -" he didn't get to finish as the tail smashed down on top of him. The water was all sucked into that one spot as the Sanbi's tail passed through, right before exploding, sending water up nearly two hundred feet into the air. The water was raised so high that even the people in Kiri could see it clear as day.

"*Cough* son of bitch *Cough*" Arashi pulled himself out of the water and stood back up, "if I hadn't moved out of the way for that in time I would have actually died." He looked around and frowned when he didn't see the Sanbi anywhere. "Great," he sighed, "he must be bellow me."

Just as he finished speaking, Arashi was forced to jump into the air as a large hand tried to crush him. He took a deep breath and breathed out more of Akane's Kitsune-bi, however the hand went back into the water before his attack could hit. Landing back on the waters surface, Arashi soon found himself faced with another dilemma.

Said dilemma being the three giant tails that had just sprung up from the waters surface and were now rushing down towards him. "Mother Fucker!" Arashi swore as he got the hell out of dodge. As the first tail came down it created a huge wave and Arashi found himself being pushed along that wave, trying to keep himself afloat at the top. The second tail was coming in at a horizontal angle, aiming straight at the red head. He jumped over it, but this attack only seemed to be a distraction as a large shadow came over him.

Looking up Arashi swore like no other as he saw a tale coming down on top of him. "Oh no you don't!" he thrust out both hands and two large ethereal red claws and, deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, also launched all three of his youki tails at the large Sanbi tail. The claws and tails wrapped around the one from the Sanbi, and as Arashi landed on the ground he did his best to direct the grappled appendage away from him. It worked, and the tail was sent smashing into the water a meter away from him. As Arashi let the wave roll under him, he wondered how the hell he was going to beat this thing.

"_**I've got it!"**_

"_Akane?"_

"_**I'm going to take direct control of the youki Naruto-kun, just continue dodging and when my attack is ready, follow my instructions."**_

"_I suppose its the best plan we've got,"_ Arashi soon found himself jumping and running all over the water as he dodged tails and hands alike. Large crescent waves were created from their battle as the Sanbi continued trying to squash him like a bug. As the battle continued to wear on Arashi was left wondering what Akane was waiting for.

Then the Sanbi's head came out, as if to see why it hadn't been able to kill him yet. The three tails of Arashi's Kyuubi cloak suddenly lashed out, expanding as they wrapped around the giant turtles horned head. The Sanbi roared as it tried to rip the tails off by jerking its entire body, but the tails hung on doggedly. With a great heave the three tails managed to yank the rest of the Sanbi's body up, revealing the large, gaping whole in its shell.

"_**Naruto-kun, open your mouth!"**_ doing as told Arashi's mouth opened wide and one of the tails detached itself from the Sanbi and placed its tip in front of him. Swirling youki formed in front of him, a mixture of white and black energy that took the shape of an extremely compressed ball of condensed youki. Arashi had no clue what this was, but just from the shear amount of energy inside of that ball he knew it was powerful.

"_**Swallow it!"**_

"_What? Swallow it? This thing looks like it will blow me up from the inside!"_ Arashi argued.

"_**Grr... we don't have time for you to be complaining, just swallow it!" **_Hearing that annoyance in Akane's voice the red head did as told and swallowed the ball of youki. Almost as soon he did he felt his body trying to expand and blow up, it was eased when he felt Akan's youki protecting him, but it still hurt.

Then he felt the energy shooting towards his throat and, not wanting to have his head blown off by that kind of power, he opened his mouth. A condensed beam shot out from his mouth, condensed being a relative term as the beam was nearly twenty feet in diameter. Arashi aimed it at the whole in the Sanbi's shell and watched as the beam blew right through it.

The Bijuu roared in agony as the Kyuubi's energy ripped through it, tearing it out from the inside. Cracks formed along the great beast before, with a large burst of Youki, the entire Bijuu exploded. The blast caused a large wave, that was bigger than any Arashi had seen from the jutsu used in this battle yet. It expanded in all directions and all he could do as the jutsu toppled over him as curl himself into a ball before it crashed down.

He felt himself tumbling and rolling within the wave as it swept him away. It seemed like hours but in truth was only a few minutes before Arashi found himself smacking against the short and tumbling along the ground as the water continued to move. When the water left the red head was left gasping for breath as he closed his eyes and tried not to vomit.

His entire body was aching, his muscles and bones felt like they had been smacked around by by Tsunade Senju right before he had someone drop the Hokage Monument on him. He could feel all of the tears his muscles had suffered and he had several tendons that were stretched out and a few that had likely ripped as well. Rolling onto his side Arashi coughed up blood and realized that he had internal bleeding as well. All in all he felt worse than shit.

"_**I'll begin healing your body Naruto-kun,"**_ Akane said as she sent gentle soothing waves of Youki through his battered limbs. **_"Your wounds should finish healing in an hour and you'll be right as rain with a good night sleep."_**

"_That's good news at least," _Arashi said as he let Akane work her magic. After a few minutes of nothing but laying on the ground looking waterlogged, the red head was finally able to push himself up. It took a great amount of effort, his legs and arms were shaking from the strain of even standing, but he pushed past the pain and began to walk up the slope. Hopefully he would be able to find a nice bed to sleep on once he got back into Kiri.

"Arashi!" looking up the Uzumaki swordsman blinked as he saw Mei, Ao and Choujuro running towards them while Hisagi merely walked at a glacial pace.

"What's up?" Arashi said with a lazy grin.

"Y-you look terrible Arashi-san," Choujuro said as they got close.

Arashi chuckled mirthlessly, "well I did just fight a jinchūriki using the full power of his Bijuu. You can't expect me to come out of a battle like that looking like a freshly cut daisy." He stumbled a bit as he continued to walk but was caught by Ao and Mei who placed his arms around their shoulders. He smiled at them, "Thanks."

Mei gave him a bright smile, "oh don't thank us. Its the least we could do after your battle." She frowned for a moment and looked back at where he had come from, "speaking of...what happened to Yagura?"

"Don't know," Arashi grunted, "when he I used my jutsu and managed to pierce that things shell it blew up. He may still be there somewhere, you can have your men search. However, I can guarantee that he is dead."

"I'll have several men get right on that," Mei said, more to herself than the others, though they heard her perfectly. "Anyways, let's get to Kiri and get some rest. I think we've earned it."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>In the following few days a large party had broken out in Kiri to celebrate the end of the Bloodline Civil War. It had been awkward at first, many of the civilians had been unsure what to think about the Kekkei Genkei clans after having been fed anti-bloodline sentiment from Yagura. However, after a few days things righted themselves, the people found that those who held bloodlines were just like they were and after that the party had started. Everyone had gone to the celebration, where they had food and drinks and all kinds of dancing and fun. It was during the second day that Mei had been nominated for Godaime Mizukage.<p>

As her first order of business Mei set about determining what to do with the prisoners, many of the ninja who had stayed on the side of the Mizukage were staunch bloodline haters, and therefore could not just be released. The new Mizukage decided to solve this problem by deciding to make use of them.

All those who had fought against the bloodline side during the last battle were sentenced to life imprisonment and having their chakra sealed, a punishment many on her side felt wasn't enough. However it was Mei's belief that those who died couldn't properly pay off their debts. The prisoners of war were going to be used as manual labor, it would be their job to repair the village and anything else she felt needed to be done that required the use of hard labor. Some grumbled about that but even those who wished them dead could see how beneficial using them like that would be.

During this time the only person who had nothing to do and didn't feel like joining the party was Arashi. It was the third day of the party and he had finally recovered fully from his exhaustion and the damage he had taken. The nurse who had healed him said he was very lucky to be alive, the red head had suffered from internal bleeding, had several organs that were supposed to be damaged beyond repair, three fractured ribs, one of which had splintered and one of the bones had pierced a lung, the tendons in his legs had been torn and he had suffered a severe concussion. When he had heard the nurse tell him about all the damage he had suffered Arashi finally realized why he felt like he had spared with Akane for twelve days.

"_**What you suffered was nothing,"**_ Akane quipped as she heard his thoughts, **_"what you suffered in your battle with the Sanbi is nothing compared to what you would have suffered had you and I sparred. Your injuries were merely flesh wounds."_**

Arashi snorted, _"right because almost dying is a flesh wound."_

"**_Compared to being dead." _**Akane paused for a second before asking, **_"aren't you going to celebrate with the others."_**

"_Nope,"_ Arashi said as he walked towards the gate, _"I don't feel like partying very much."_

"**_That's probably just because you can't get drunk,"_** Akane teased, **_"I bet if my regeneration didn't affect your ability to get wasted you would be partying harder than anyone else."_**

"_Bah! Why would I want to get so drunk I couldn't see past my own nose."_

"_**I don't know, because it's fun?"**_

"_Oh?" _said Arashi in a teasing voice, _"has the great and feared Kyuubi No Yoko ever gotten wasted?"_

"_**You know I can't, my regenerative abilities prevent it."**_

Arashi just shrugged, he was about to say something else when another voice up, "Leaving so soon Arashi-kun?" blinking, Arashi looked up to see Mei standing by the gate out of the village with her by now famous smile on her face.

"Uh... yeah," he rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly, "I've never been comfortable partying and with the war over there's not much of a need for me now."

"You know that's not true," Mei said as she walked up to him, her smile still in place. "In fact, Kiri could use your help more than ever now. I was hoping you'd be willing to stay and help me bolster the ranks, you know many ninja look up to you."

To say that Arashi was stunned would be like saying Ao made Mei mildly annoyed. He didn't think, or even really consider the thought that Mei might actually want him to be a ninja for her. The thought was both surprising and surprisingly made him feel wanted, needed. It was a good feeling. However...

"While a part of me would love to stay with you, I can't," Arashi said, causing Mei smile to drop into a disappointed frown. "I still have a dream that I need to accomplish, and unfortunately I can't do that as a Kirigakure shinobi."

"I see," Mei said, sounding disappointed before a smile appeared on her face. "Well, at least allow me to thank you for all the help you've given my people."

"Eh?" Arashi tilted his head in confusion, "there's no need to thank me, I had my own – mph!" What ever Arashi had been about to say was cut off by Mei who had grabbed him by the jacket and slammed her lips against his own. The young and confused red head had no time to even figure out what happened before a tongue penetrated his mouth and began exploring the inside of his oral passage. It was ultimately feeling Mei's tongue enter his mouth that caused his mind to short circuit.

Inside of the seal Akane could be seen raging across the landscape and destroying the trees in her path as she ranted, _**How dare that...that hussy steal MY Naruto-kun's first kiss! That stupid, lowdown, self centered bitch! When I get out of this seal I'm going to fucking rip her tits off! Stupid little whore! Kissing my Naruto-kun!**_ Her rant continued along this vein, ranging from swearing enough that any sailor who heard her would likely die from shock, and making threats of bodily harm on the auburn haired woman that continued to become increasingly violent.

When Mei finally disengaged her kiss Arashi stumbled back, breathing heavily with a large blush on his face and looking extremely confused. "What...what was that for?" he asked.

"That was a thank you, of course," Mei said smiling brightly as she licked her lips. "And," she dropped her voice down to a husky whisper, "incentive for you to return sometime." Feeling as if there was nothing left to say Mei walked past him with a sway of her hips, passing a parting comment for him to "Not be a stranger" over her shoulder.

It took nearly a full five minutes before Arashi's mind truly rebooted and he was able to leave, taking off through the gate and heading into the trees. He sped through the woodlands at a pace that would set most ninja to shame, wanting to get to the next island some time tonight. It wasn't to be however as Akane spoke up from the seal, _**"get in the seal, we need to talk?"**_

"_Akane-chan?"_ said Arashi, wondering if her sounding angry was just his imagination.

"_**In the seal, now!"**_

"_Yes ma'am!" _not wanting to anger Akane anymore than she already was he found the safest place a to rest, a niche in one of the trees. He set up his standard seals, including the genjutsu seal he had reverse engineered, and then lay down and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>the moment Naruto entered the seal, looking like his normal blond self as the seal could only show himself as he truly was, it was to the sight of an angry Akane pacing around angrily. He had never actually seen her angry, to be honest with the way she acted he hadn't even really known she could get angry. However, from the way she was pacing, and the number of swear words coming from her lips, he knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that she wasn't just angry. She was down right pissed off.<p>

The only question he had was about what.

"Uh...Akane-chan?" he asked tentatively, stopping her mid pace and getting her to turn and look at him. She swung to him fully and began stalking over to him, that angry looked still on her face. Thinking she was angry Naruto began to back up, not that it deterred her and he was forced to stop soon anyways as he was backed up against a tree. He gulped as he watched her finish closing the distance between them, and could swear he just saw his life flash before his eyes.

Before thoughts of his death could take hold however, Akane grabbed him by the face and claimed his lips with her own in a hungry and fierce kiss. For the second time that day Naruto froze; he could feel the soft, smooth texture of Akane's lips pressed against his own, her tongue pushing into his mouth as he let out an involuntary groan, the way she explored his mouth, taking in every detail, exploring every inch. He could feel her body as she pressed herself against him, the way her assets, which were not too big or too small, a size that was as close as could be considered perfect, were pressing into his chest. A shiver escaped him as he felt one of her legs come up and begin to rub against his own, sensually gliding up and down and causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. When Akane finally let him go from the kiss Naruto found himself slumping against the tree.

Akane smirked as she saw him slide onto his butt, a glazed over look in his eyes. She knelt down next to him and waited for him to come too. When he did, she said, **"I want you to listen very carefully Naruto-kun. You are mine,"** she watched as Naruto's eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth but she cut him off,** "no one else will ever kiss you like that besides me, those lips, are mine."** He suddenly let out a soft squeak as one of Akane's hands grabbed a hold of Naruto's crotch. **"And this, is mine too. No one will ever touch this aside from me, and if they do, both you and her will suffer unspeakable tortures, understood?"**

were Naruto actually in the right state of mind, he might have questioned Akane on why she was being so dominating. As it was all he could do was nod. **"Good,"** Akane said, and just like that her demeanor changed, no longer an aura of seductive malevolence that hung around her like a shroud. She gave him a soft smile as she straddled his legs and cupped his cheek with one hand. Leaning down she gave him a much gentler kiss than the searing one from before.

"**You know,"** Akane whispered against his lips, her warm breath causing him to shudder, **"it's considered bad taste not to kiss a girl when she starts kissing you."** She went back to kissing him and Naruto began to respond, tentatively at first, as if he was afraid of doing something wrong. However, the moment he actually began to kiss back, Akane responded more enthusiastically, grabbing his arms and bringing them around her waist, before her own went into his hair.

Spurned on by the way she pressed herself against him and the enthustiastic and down right sexy noises Akane was making, Naruto began to kiss her back harder. As they continued Akane was pleased to note that Naruto actually got better as they continued, it seemed his learning curve didn't just apply to combat situations.

When they finally broke apart, Naruto opened the eyes he had closed and saw Akane resting her forehead against his, with her nose just barely touching his own. "What does this mean?" he asked, and Akane could see the confusion in them.

"**I love you,"** she said simply, causing his eyes to widen. She smiled at finally being allowed to let her feelings known, **"I've loved you for a while now, but I didn't want to push you into anything because you were so young. I was going to talk to you after you graduated and see if 'we' could work."**

"What changed?" the moment he asked that he saw her face darken and realized it might not be the best subject. "Never mind," he said quickly, changing directions to something else, "so what does that make us?"

"**I suppose that would depend," **she said, reigning in her thoughts on killing Mei to answer him.

"On?" Naruto prodded her.

"**On how you feel about me,"** she admitted, thinking much more clearly now that her anger at Mei was starting to dissipate some. She didn't really want to push him into a relationship with her. She wanted him, badly, and she wouldn't deny that. But she loved him, and when you loved someone as much as she loved Naruto, all you wanted was to see the person you loved happy. Now that her demonic instincts to claim her mate had gone down she was no longer thinking along the lines she had when threatening him. In fact, she was pretty embarrassed to have let her baser instincts get the better of her.

Naruto didn't even really have to think about his feelings for Akane. Ever since he had met her the red haired woman had been nothing but helpful, she had taught him everything he knew, had held him when he was sad, gave him advice, encouragement and hadn't kept any secrets from him. On top of that, he would admit that he found her extremely beautiful, with beauty being only a relative term, since he honestly couldn't find any word in human vocabulary that could describe her beauty. People like Mei were pretty, but someone like Akane simply defied description.

"I love you too," he said, making Akane nearly cry in relief. "Honestly I loved you ever since I first met you, ever since you first offered to help me you became the most important person in the world to me. And after, well..."

"**That incident?"** asked Akane, giving an unrepentant grin at Naruto's blush.

"Yes," he tried to glare at her but with how red his face was it wasn't all that effective. He sighed, "after that incident I couldn't stop thinking about you, about how you looked, how it would feel to have, well, this," he gestured to their current position, "happen. I kept comparing you to other woman, all of whom fell several leagues short of the mark. Honestly, I thought about saying something but I was afraid you'd think I was joking, and tell me that I was just a kid or something."

"**Well you don't need to worry about that,"** Akane told him as she kissed him on one cheek, then the other and than came back to his lips. They enjoyed a few moments of this before she broke the kiss and smiled at him, **"I love you too, and nothing will change that."**

Naruto smiled before he placed a hand behind Akane's head and pulled her mouth back to his, giving the vixen a pleasant surprise. Naruto decided to spend the rest of the night in the seal, enjoying the feeling of making out with his new...well, whatever she was. He would decide that later, he figured. For now, all that mattered was using the knowledge Akane had given him so many years ago by applying it to this moment.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>standing on top of the Mizukage tower overlooking the village was a man wearing a black cloak with a high collar. He had short-cropped spiky black hair with a blue tint to it and was wearing an orange swirl mask with only a single eye whole. As he looked out over the village of Kirigakure a voice spoke up behind him, <strong>"It seems your puppet was defeated."<strong>

"It doesn't matter," the man said, "he was no longer of any use anyways."

"**Do not lie to me! You think I can't see through you boy! I can tell your surprised, angry, you didn't think he would lose so quickly. And now, your one pawn short."**

"I still have more pawns I can move," he insisted, "Yagura was but one piece, and he outlived his usefulness anyways."

"**Then you know what you are going to do?"**

"Of course, I have already found a group in Ame who I can use for my purposes."

"**You mean my purposes."**

"Your purposes are my purposes," the man tried to placate the voice.

"**You are a slipper one child. Do not forget that it was I who gave you your life back, and I can take it just as easily as I returned it to you. If you attempt to betray me, I will erase your existence from this world and find a more... malleable tool."**

"I know my purpose."

"**Good, I am pleased to hear that. See to it that you do not fail me."**

The man in the orange mask looked out at the village for a few more moments before he disappeared in a swirl of black chakra.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p><span>Omake: The Sanbi Emerges:<span>

Dwarfing over the two of them, standing even larger than the Mizukage mansion, the Sanbi No Kyodaigame stood in front of the two ninja. The Sanbi primarily resembled a large turtle, but with a crab-like shell, and three shrimp-like tails. It had a pair of human-like arms and hands, but no hind-legs. Its right eye was constantly closed, indicating some sort of possible injury. At least, Arashi hoped it had some kind of injury, because he couldn't see any other weak point on the hardened carapace.

Mei's eyes widened, "Oh my god! I've never felt so much power before! Its... its..."

"Its got a power level thats over 9,000!" Mei turned to look at Arashi who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "sorry, I've always wanted to say that."

* * *

><p><strong>Just to let you all know, Mei is not going to be getting with Naruto. I was merely keeping her in character with the manga. it's said that she has a slightly flirty personality but I didn't want to show that while she was in a war. Now that the war is over she can allow more of her personality to shine through. However, just because she kissed Naruto, does not mean she is going to get with him. You must also remember that she thinks Naruto is Arashi Kazama, the Uzumaki swordsman who has forsaken his family name. She doesn't even know Naruto, so there is no real relationship between them.<strong>

**Also, I'm kind of iffy on having Naruto and Akane start a relationship this early. For those of you who have been wondering, Naruto is physically 10 years old. While I'm trying to give Naruto an older mental state (15 at the moment), which is reflected by his mental image of himself in his mindscape, I still feel its...wrong to be putting him in a relationship at ten, but felt this was the best time to bring him and Akane together.**

**I hope that answers any questions or concerns you might have about this being a single pairing story. As I said before, this is strictly Naru/Fem. Kyuubi.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Hey Fools, my name is Killer Bee, and I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, thats because I'm the number one, son of a gun, rappin' jinchūriki! WEE!**

**BEE! You were supposed to say my disclaimer!**

**What? Why is that fool? Everyone knows you don't own Naruto, cuz its already got its owner in Kishimoto.**

**Stop rappin!**

**Hey man, I can't stop my rhymes, that would be a crime.**

**GAH! STOP RAPPING!**

**Chapter 13: Legacy of the Uzumaki Clan**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>it took two days of running across both water and through woodlands before Naruto found his way back to the Port town where he had first entered Kiri. It didn't look all that much different from when he had come into the country. Still, it was looking a little better, he could see places where ninja and civilians alike had set up food stands so that the people who were without homes or money could get some food, and the place just looked a little less bleak in general.<p>

As he made his way through the town Naruto stopped at a small restaurant, it was nothing more than a little stand that reminded him of Ichiraku's back home, at least in looks. As he sat down in of the chairs a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties or so turned around from where he was looking. "What can I get for ya kid?" he asked.

By now, Naruto had decided to discard his Arashi look, since he didn't want any attention and his red haired persona had become very famous during the war. "I'll have some Udon noodles with a side of fried Calamari," said Naruto after looking over the menu for a moment.

"Comin' right up," the man said as he took the menu and set in inside a rack that held even more menus.

"_**Naru-kun,"**_ Akane said, bringing a smile to his face as she used the new nickname she had given to him. Hearing her voice brought the last few days of travel back to him; after her initial threat of torture and consequent confession of love, the two of them had been exploring their relationship every night when Naruto went to bed. The blond could honestly say that he had never been as happy as he was now. They never went beyond kissing and cuddling but he didn't have any desire for sex yet, aside from the fact that she was in his mind and despite his mental image being fifteen, he still had a ten year old body, thus, some parts of his anatomy still didn't quite work yet, even in the mindscape.

"_Yes Benihime?"_ asked Naruto, using the pet name he had come up with for her. The man who had taken his order set down a steaming hot plate of Udon noodles served in a dashi broth with a variety of vegetable toppins and two boiled eggs, along with a side of fried calamari with a side of some kind of dipping sauce. Naruto thanked the man before focusing on the red head sealed inside of him.

Akane smiled within the seal, _**"I was just thinking...since we're in Mizu No Kuni, and no longer have any pressing concerns, that you may want to visit...your mothers homeland."**_

Naruto paused just as he finished breaking his chopsticks for a second, the action was so fast that unless you knew Naruto as well as Akane did, you would have never even noticed something was wrong. _"My mothers homeland is near here?"_ he asked, even as he whispered a quick "Itadakimasu" and began to slowly eat.

"_**It's a little ways away,"**_ Akane said, **_"Uzu No Kuni was an island that didn't become a part of Mizu No Kuni due to the fact that it was much farther out than any of the other islands. From what I remember of my geology, it takes about two weeks to get close to it and it can't be accessed by boat."_**

Naruto frowned as he popped a fishcake into his mouth and chewed, _"why is that?"_

"_**Because of the whirlpools. Uzu No Kuni is an island that is completely surrounded by whirlpools. That's why your clan came up with the name Uzumaki. The whirlpools were actually one of the Uzumaki clans defensive measures, I remember hearing about how they could actually control the whirlpools potency to become as gentle as a small funnel, to as violent as a raging maelstrom."**_

"_I see,"_ a thoughtful look crossed the blonds face as he thought about the benefits of taking this side trip to his mothers ancestral home. He had always wanted to learn more about his mother, it was the one piece of his past that was still somewhat clouded in mystery. Akane had done what she could to fill in the blanks, but she didn't know everything there was to know about the woman named Kushina Uzumaki. Her past was one of those things.

"_Do you think we have the time?" _asked Naruto, _"we've been gone for eight months, I don't know how much longer my Chishio Bunshin will last."_

"_**We told it to conserve its chakra,"**_ Akane said, **_"it should last until the end of the year, we'll be back at least a month before than." _**Her voice went from a matter of fact tone to the softer one she often used with him, _**"I know you want to know more about your mom, Naruto-kun. This may be your best chance."**_

"_Your right,"_ he decided, _"it likely is my best chance, maybe my only one. But how would we get there, even if you know where it is I can't walk that far on water, even I would run out of chakra before then."_

"_**We'll hire a ferryman,"**_ Akane said, **_"'Mei' gave you quite a bit of money as compensation for your efforts. You should have more than enough with you to pay for passage."_**

Hearing the way Akane spat out the name of the auburn haired woman, like it was diseased, made Naruto frown. _"Hey, you know that there's nothing going on between me and Mei, right? Just because she gave me that one kiss, doesn't mean I'm going to jump her bones. Your the one I love." _It had taken some particularly...thorough "interrogation" techniques to get Akane to reveal the reason she had been so upset earlier. But now that he knew the reason Naruto would do everything in his power to let her know nothing would happen between him and any woman that was not her.

Akane smiled within the seal, even as a slight blush of embarrassment came to her face. _**"I know, I guess I just still don't like that she stole your first kiss from me."**_

"_Well if its any consolation, your a much better kisser than she is,"_ Naruto replied cheekily, pleased to know he could finally get back at the woman who had been teasing him mercilessly since he was eight.

"_**You know that's not the only 'thing' I'm probably better at than her,"**_ Akane said, modulating her voice to that tone that never failed to send shivers down Naruto's spine. **_"Maybe the next time you come into the seal, I can show you some of those...other, talents that I have."_**

_Damn,_ Naruto swore as he realized that he still couldn't get Akane back without her turning it around on him. Inside of the seal said demoness grinned and gave a victory sign.

After his meal Naruto set the allotted amount of money for the food on the table and left. He made his way to the docks, drawing a few curious stares on his way. Blond hair was rare in every nation except Kumogakure, and his version of sun kissed golden blond was an oddity even there. So seeing a kid wearing black shinobi clothing with a sword attached to his back and bright blond hair was likely a very unusual sight for the mostly dark brown haired people of Kiri.

When he got to the docks it was to see only a few ships were still around. Mei had sent out word to many of the traders and shipping companies that business was open again and that they should begin setting sail and trying to market trade with other countries as soon as possible. After having most of their imports cut off due to Yagura barring most trade, the sailors were quick to set sail and begin working once more.

That didn't mean that everyone had left, Naruto saw a man with black hair, a scraggly beard and an eye patch. Naruto walked up to him and immediately got the mans attention, "Hmm? What do you ye want kid? I'm a little busy right now."

"I was hoping that you could grant me passage to Uzu No Kuni," Naruto said, making the man hault in his tracks to look at him incredulously. "I'm willing too pay a hefty sum if you can."

"No one goes to that place these days, kid," the man said. "There ain't anything there, and even if they did go, there's no way to get past the whirlpools." In the past decade since the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan, Uzu No Kuni had become a death trap for ships. The whirlpools would often pull anything into them and destroy any ship that came too close, along with their cargo. With out the Uzumaki Clan to control them, the whirlpools had simply gone out of control.

"You don't have to take me all the way," Naruto reassured, "I just need someone to get me at least a mile out of the surrounding whirlpools. And as I said, I'm willing to pay a hefty sum of money."

The man gave him a speculative look, "how much are we talkin'?"

"Fifteen thousand yen," Naruto's answer caused the man older mans eyebrows to raise into his hairline.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>It took a total of three weeks to actually get to Uzu No Kuni. Surprisingly enough the small island nation was actually only several dozen miles outside of Hi No Kuni, which was where the ship Naruto had bartered passage on was going anyways.<p>

After disembarking from the ship and surprising all those on board by walking on the water, the only problem Naruto had getting onto the island of his ancestors was the large whirlpools that surrounded and guarded the island. That problem however, had been easily solved by clone hopping, jumping into the air and creating a clone to jump off of, then another and another until Naruto had gone past the whirlpool. Once he got on land Naruto began to journey into the island until he finally came across Uzushiogakure No Sato.

"_**It's not quite what I expected,"**_ Akane said as Naruto stood in front of the ninja village of the Uzumaki clan. In terms of appearance, the village seemed to have been composed of several cylindrical buildings, similar to those of Kirigakure. A wide river seemed to cut through the village and was gapped by large bridges. The surrounding countryside was dominated by steep hills.

Of course, all of that was only what Naruto had been able to piece together from what he could see. The entire village was actually ruins, the buildings were gutted or burnt down completely, the bridges were destroyed, and several section of Uzushio were simply gone, not even debris was left from the aftermath of what ever had destroyed those buildings. What buildings were left of the once great village had vines and other plant life beginning to reclaim it.

"_I don't know if we'll actually find anything,"_ Naruto said, frowning at the thought. Never the less he journeyed into the village and began to look around, hoping against hope that something had survived the destruction of his mother's homeland.

The next couple of hours were spent searching the ruins of the village, looking for anything that might tell Naruto a little more about the people who once inhabited the now abandoned streets. He spent much of his time going through ruined out buildings, hoping to find maybe some kind of secret passage that would lead to a library or even just a few scrolls or a journal. What Naruto found instead were the many signs of battle that spread across the landscape, old rusted kunai, broken swords and an assortment of other weapons. It was clear that when the Kiri, Kumo, Iwa alliance had left after destroying the village, they had not taken their dead with them. While there were not many skeletons due to time having decayed most of them, or the plants having consumed and crushed the bones in their attempt to gain a foot hold in the village, there were still more than enough to show that a lot of deaths had taken place here.

"_**There's not much here, is there?"**_ asked Akane with a heavy sigh.

"_No, but we both knew there was a distinct possiblity that this is what we would find," _Naruto came out of another building and looked around, his eyes landed on the largest building there. It was obviously the kage building, aside from the fact that it was the largest in the entire village, it was also the one that was the most heavily damaged. As he entered the building he saw what looked like a lobby, there was the ruined remains of a front desk next to a staircase. The entire left wall had been burnt down, rubble strewn about showing it had been hit by some errant jutsu or even done on purpose. There were several hole dotting the floor and Naruto realized there must be some kind of staircase leading down.

"_**Do you think we'll find something?"**_ asked Akane as Naruto made his way further in. He soon found a door that had been burnt down, leading to a staircase that led deeper into the building.

"_I can only hope that we do," _Naruto replied as he made his way down. He went down several flights of stairs before finding himself in what looked like a catacomb. Walking down the narrow passage the whiskered blond was surprised that he didn't need to light any kind of torch, thanks to the weird fungal formations that lined the walls and glowed a light blue.

Looking around a frown crossed the whiskered blonds face as he saw a lot of skeletons lying along the wall with what looked like bamboo shafts impaling them. As Naruto continued moving forward his left foot sunk when he landed on a loose tile. There was a light clicking noise and then he heard a loud woosh, suddenly several of said same bamboo shafts shot out from nearly a dozen wholes in the wall, all of them flying towards him.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto pushed chakra into his legs and began running. His body, honed and conditioned since he was five thanks to Akane found himself testing the limits of his reflexes and dodging ability as the shafts rained towards him from the walls, the ceiling, a few times he even found himself having to react in a split second to dodge spears that shot up from the floor. It was just as he was dodging another set of spears that had shot out, jumping and rotating his body to let the shafts pass him by mere centimeters, that he landed on the ground and was forced to make a quick leap up as the floor gave out.

He ran along ceiling now, and continued dodging until he reached the end of the corridor, after which he pushed himself off the ceiling, flipping and spinning until he landed on solid ground. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked back to where he had come from, _"I guess a lot of the traps are still active."_

"_**The Uzumaki Clan were one of the many bloodline clans who guarded there secrets zealously,"**_ Akane recited from one of the many scrolls his mother had that the two read.** _"If there going through so much effort to protect what's down here than it must be important."_**

"_Those are my thoughts as well," _Naruto continued on his way. The area outside of the corridor was a labyrinth of twisting passages and dead ends, a few of which were caused from one of the many buildings top side having collapsed on top of it. The blond Uzumaki was forced to double back more times than he cared to count in an effort to get through the annoying maze.

Along the way Naruto ran into several more traps, several pit falls filled with spikes at the bottom, a few more wholes that launched bamboo shafts at him, he even found himself having to run from a rather large boulder that only stopped chasing him because the blond got tired and blue it up with one of his Uzumaki Kenjutsu techniques. After several hours of traps and havoc Naruto found himself staring at a large double-door.

It was unlike any he had ever seen, aside from the fact that the door was nearly as large as the gates that led into Konoha. It was obviously made of stone, a deep red stone that looked almost like blood. All along the door were chains, six chains that held the door closed, one in each corner and one on the left and right sides. Along the chains Naruto saw the black inking of a seal array, which was completed in the center where a large locking mechanism kept the chains together.

"_**It's a blood seal,"**_ Akane said, surprising Naruto since she didn't know much about sealing as he did, and he hadn't recognized it. Sensing his confusion she went on to explain, **_"it's a very ancient blood seal, and was one of the first seals ever created. It came from the man who had you given humanity jutsu, the man known as the Rikudou Sennin."_**

Naruto's eyes went wide as he heard that, _"so my clan was around back than? Did they have some kind of relation with the Rikudou Sennin?"_

"**_I don't know,"_** Akane frowned, **_"they definitely had to have been alive back than, but I don't think they were called Uzumaki at that time. Unfortunately, the Uzumaki name didn't appear until I was well entrenched as Hi No Kuni's guardian and I had only heard about them in passing. I never had time nor the desire after that to find out anything about their history."_**

"_I see,"_ the whiskered blond looked at the locking mechanism for only a moment, bit his and swiped his hand across the seal. _"Well, I won't be getting any answers from just standing here."_

he stepped back and watched as the blood began to steam and hiss as it touched the sealing array. The part of the seal that the blood touched soon turned red, that red began to spread along to the seal until the entire locking mechanism had glowing red seals on it. Then it began to spread, moving out along the seals on the chains until they all reached the end. Eight bolts popped out of the sides of the locking mechanism after that and the front most top began to spin, until it tumbled to the ground in two pieces. The chains fell by the way side as the door began to slowly creek open, moving inwards.

Naruto walked through and the door and stopped, staring at the room he was in in shock. The room was essentially a large dome that spanned several hundred meters. All around the room acting as supports were large stone columns and archways. The earth seemed to have made its way down here as well, nearly every column was covered from head to toe in vines, making it nearly impossible to see anything other than a few flecks of stone. The entire thing reminded Naruto of this one movie he watched once when he snuck into a movie theater about a treasure hunter who visited ancient temples in search of lost treasures.

Walking through the room Naruto's head turned left and right as he looked around in an attempt to memorize the entire cavernous dome. He soon found himself standing in the center, right in front of him was a large stone dais with two items on top of it. The first was a large scroll, much bigger than the usual sealing scrolls at nearly four times the size of one. It was a deep red color and had gold edging. The second was another, much smaller and plainer looking scroll. Both were old, they looked to be slightly worn around the edges and had probably been sitting there since Uzushio was destroyed.

Naruto walked up to the dais when he heard Akane give a sharp intake of breath, _"is something wrong?"_

"_**Naruto-kun, that large scroll is a summoning contract,"**_ she breathed out. Summoning contracts had first been created during the time of the Rikudou Sennin, when lesser animal demons known as Dire Beasts left the underworld and pleaded with Kami for her help in creating a place for them to live. Kami agreed to do this for them, on the condition that they form a pact with humanity, to help them when called upon by one who held their contract, thus the first summoning contracts were formed.

"_So this is a summoning contract,"_ Naruto said as he picked it up, _"I didn't think it would be so large, this thing is almost half as large as I am."_

"_**Most of them aren't that large,"**_ Akane explained, **_"this contract must be one of the older summoning contracts."_**

"_Ah,"_ Naruto tied a strand of ninja wire to both ends of the summoning contract and placed it around his shoulder so that it sat on the opposite side of his sword. He grabbed the smaller scroll next and began looking for a way out, he really didn't want to go back the way he came.

It took half an hour of searching, but eventually, Naruto found a passage way out on the wall that was opposite of the door he entered from. It was another exit that required his blood to pass through and led to a tunnel not unlike the catacombs, though he was supremely grateful when this one didn't have any traps in it.

The tunnel led to an exit that led out to the a beach on the opposite side of the shore that he came from. Looking out at the ocean Naruto's enhanced vision could pick out the mass of land that was Hi No Kuni several dozen miles out. He walked further out to the beach taking the summoning scroll off his back and laying it on the ground, unrolling it as he went.

He studied the characters of the seal that represented the contract between summoning creature and summoner. To most it would just look like squiggly lines and would make no sense what so ever. However Naruto was not most people, he could read the seal as clear as if he was reading the news paper. _"Interesting, so these seals are in actuality a space-time ninjutsu designed to summon a Dire Beast from their chosen dimension. Some of these seals almost remind me of the ones found on tou-sans Hiraishin kunai."_

"_**I believe your father used summoning contracts as the basis for his jutsu,"**_ Akane said, **_"though I can't be too sure. Anyways, why don't you sign it and give it a go. Just to warn you, the boss of the summoning contract is likely to test you and see if you are worthy of being there summoner. Just sign in your name in blood, after that all you have to do is sacrifice a little blood each time you want to use the jutsu."_**

Naruto acknowledged her with the equivalent of a mental nod as he bit his thumb to draw blood. As he signed his name on the scroll, his eyes were drawn to those before. There weren't many names on this contract, aside from his now there were only two names total. The first, he didn't recognize. Of course, he didn't know the second one either, but the last name of the second was Uzumaki. Naruto figured this eventually became a scroll that the clan used, like dog contract that was used strictly by the Hatake clan in Konoha.

He had to bite his thumb again in order to draw more blood, since his wound had already sealed up by then. Gathering about one fourth of his chakra reserves he went through the four required hand seals, boar, dog, monkey, ram and slammed his hands in the ground. There was a large puff of smoke that covered nearly the entire beach, and when it cleared Naruto found himself unsure whether to stare in amazement, or gulp in fright at the sight that greeted him.

The first thing he noted was that it was large, able to easily cover nearly the entire beach. It had large scaly wings with three claws that protruded from the first fold at the top. A powerful set of hind quadrupedal hind legs with deadly looking clawed feet. On the front were a set of powerful looking humanoid arms with a hand that had five clawed fingers and looked similar to a eagles talons. The head was streamlined and roughly triangular in shape, with a twin set of horns that moved back behind its head. The had was connected to a long neck that went into a sleek and powerful looking body that had the wings protruding from the shoulder plates, and finished with a tail that was just as long as everything else and had what looked like a sword for the tail end.

The entire creature was covered in dark blue scales that glistened and seemed to have an unnatural glow to them. Its head was covered in some type of golden armor that looked like a crown and covered from the head to the top half of the neck, and then all of the lower half before moving into a chest plate that covered the entire torso and even over three fourths of the tail. The last piece of armor was located on the legs and ankle and looked like a shin guard from a fantasy story with knights and princesses. All told the creature was both awe inspiring in its majesty, and frightening in how powerful it looked.

Naruto knew what this was, while no one had ever seen one for over a thousand years there were plenty of depictions in some of the books he had found in the library of this creature. It was a dragon, a creature of ancient myth that was not thought to actually exist anymore.

The creatures head swung back and forth for a second or two, taking in it's surrounding before its gold slitted eyes focused on him. **"Did you summon me child?"** asked the dragon, its voice a deep, rumbling basso.

"That's right," Naruto said, squaring his shoulders and looking at the dragon directly in the eye with a "you got a problem with that" kind of look. He didn't care if this was a creature of ancient myth and legend, in about a years time he wasn't even going to be human and he'd be damned if he started cowering like one.

The dragons lips peeled back in a smile, at least, Naruto thought it was a smile. Than again, it was kind of hard to think at seeing all those razor sharp teeth. **"You have courage child, to stand up to me like this and not show fear,"** it breathed out a bit of fire from its nostrils as it spoke. **"Tell me boy, what is your name?"**

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"**An Uzumaki?"** the dragon seemed surprised, **"interesting...So, another Uzumaki has come to challenge me for the right to use me and my kin as summons."**

"How many came before me?" asked Naruto, curious.

"**Oh, plenty," **the dragon said. **"I have had hundreds of your people try and sign my contract, but only two have ever survived my test. I hope for your sake, you survive as well."**

"What do you -" Naruto eyes widened as a large breath of flame sped towards him. He pushed chakra into his legs and jumped into the air, just barely dodging the large flame. He was shocked to see that the flame had turned the sand where he had been into glass. He dropped back down and glared at the large dragon, "What the hell was that for!"

"**Your test is to be trial by combat!"** the dragon said, roaring out the words in a booming voice. **"Dragons are warriors, and only a true warrior can be allowed to summon me and my kin! Now prepare yourself!"**

"Shit!" Naruto yelled as more flames shot from the dragons nose. Naruto dodged out of the way, racing across the sand and shooting towards the dragons side in an effort to get in the creatures blindside.

It didn't work quite the way he had expected it as the dragons tail shot towards him and he was only barely able to jumped over it. However that wasn't the end as the tail came back and this time the whiskered blond had to duck, even then he could feel the power behind the swing as it rushed passed him. That attack could have easily taken his head off.

Not wanting the creature to get the upper hand Naruto ran towards it. The tails once again came into play but the blond sliced his hand towards it and shot a wind blade that hit the tail and caused it to halt its movements long enough so that he was too far in the dragons guard for the tail to properly hit him. That didn't mean the dragon didn't have other means of fighting him, as Naruto soon found out.

As the dragon turned its head and sent another blast of fire at the blond, it also lashed out with its clawed left hand. Naruto sucked in a deep breath, even as Akane began channeling youki to his throat. He released a pure white ball of flame that smacked into the fire, causing a huge explosion that sent a shock wave at both of them. The dragon stumbled a bit, but Naruto was able to channel chakra to his feet and stick to the ground, allowing him to block the swung clawed hand that had been weakened due to the dragon being knocked a little off balance from the shock wave with his sword.

However, as Naruto came in closer to try and do some damage he could forgot about one thing. It was only after he had been smacked away by one of the large wings that he remembered them. Flipping through air, Naruto landed on his feet several meters away and continued to skid along the ground, leaving small trench marks in the sand.

The dragon opened its large mouth and shot several balls of blue fire at the whiskered blond, who was soon moving across the landscape in a zigzag pattern as he dodged the attacks. Naruto did his best to ignore the explosions going on behind him each time one of the fireballs missed, the heat that washed over him with the gust of wind caused by the blasts. Moving in Naruto went through several hand seals and opened his mouth, shooting out a bolt of lightning.

He nearly cheered when he saw that he had forced the dragon to actually move, figuring it was some great accomplishment since the damn thing had just been standing there the whole time. However his thoughts soon turned dark when he saw the dragon take off into the air and simply hover several dozen feet off the ground. "Oh come on!" the blond complained, "that is so not cool!"

He didn't know whether the dragon heard him or not, but as the great summon began shooting out more fireballs he supposed it didn't matter. Naruto found himself running around, jumping, rolling, twisting and doing everything in his power not to get incinerated by the large balls of flame. All the while trying to figure out which jutsu in his arsenal would be best to hit the now flying dragon.

He had several powerful attacks that he was sure would damage to great creature if they hit. However they had several drawbacks, the key one being they needed to hit their target in order to do anything. There was also the fact that his most powerful jutsu did more damage to him than was healthy, and Naruto didn't want to be a sitting duck if they didn't hit.

Fuuton Jutsu wouldn't work, the dragon was shooting fireballs at him. Winds elemental weakness was fire, and it would strengthen any attacks the dragon sent his way. Lightning might work but he only had two with the capability to reach that high and one was too slow while the other didn't have that kind of reach without using a lot of chakra, more than it was really worth. His Uzumaki Hijutsu might work, unfortunately there weren't that many shadows to use his Yamiton techniques, which only really worked when there were a lot of shadows or total darkness; and his Hiton techniques didn't have the necessary range. The only thing he could think to do was match fire with fire.

Going through several hand seals Naruto finished and cupped his mouth with one hand. He blew out a large fire dragon that blazed towards the real dragon. Said creature snorted as he let the dragon plow into itself. There was a large explosion and Naruto waited on baited breath to see if his attack had done any damage. He didn't have to wait long as a large fireball flew down towards him, "oh you have got to be shitting me!"

As the large ball of flame grew bigger, Naruto unsheathed his blade and moved into a kenjutsu stance. He calmed his breathing and began channeling a massive amount of chakra through his blade, "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Ranpu Kirite (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Light Release: Light Cutter)!" Letting loose a roar Naruto swung his blade in an upwards diagonal motion, release a powerful crescent moon shaped blade of light. The blade hit the fireball and the two forces pushed against each other, vying the other for superiority of strength. It was the ultimate test of Naruto's power, pitting one of his most powerful bladed techniques, one he had only ever done in theory before, against that of a fireball from a powerful summons. In the end only one of attacks would win.

Sadly for Naruto, it was not his. After nearly a minute of the two powerful attacks pushing against each other, it was the fireball that engulfed Naruto's Hiton crescent moon blade. The whiskered blonds eyes widened as the jutsu continued barreling down towards him, and he had less than a second to react as the powerful fire attack smashed into the ground.

The explosion from the blast rocked the very foundations of the island, a pillar of fire shot up into the air, so high that the people in a small port town off the coast Hi No Kuni could actually see the blast and were left wondering what it was from. A giant mushroom cloud of smoke followed the fire, billowing up from the ground. It took several minutes for the smoke to clear, and when it did the Dragon saw that its attack had left a large crater thirty-feet wide by fifteen feet deep.

"**Hmmm...I must be losing my touch,"** it said in its rumbling growl, **"normally my explosions cause a larger crater than that – oh – whats this?"** If the dragon had eyebrows, they would have been raised at seeing the young whiskered blond climbing out of the crater. He didn't so all he could do was watch in surprise as Naruto managed to pull himself out, using his sword as a crutch as he climbed to his feet.

The boy had definitely seen better days; his clothes were utterly ruined, half of his shirt was gone and his pants were so short they went up to his thighs, both having been burnt off. What little was left of them was burnt and torn, as if it had faced fierce fires followed by an even fiercer cutting wind. All of the skin that was shown was burnt, some areas were second degree, but more than a few held third degree burns as well, namely his face and upper chest. Yet the dragon received a surprise, not just in the boy rising up from an attack that should have killed him, but also seeing the more serious burns beginning to hiss and steam as they slowly healed up.

"**How are you not dead boy?"** asked the dragon, his voice sounded more curious than anything. **"That attack should have killed a normal human, even an Uzumaki would never have been able to withstand that attack."**

Naruto winced as he took in a breath, he felt like shit, and that was being modest. His entire body felt like it had been dipped in lava. Even so, he smirked at the dragon as he said, "Right before your attack hit I used one of my most powerful defensive jutsus..."

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p><em>Flashback...<em>

_Just seconds before the fireball smashed into him Naruto sheathed his blade and began channeling mass amounts of chakra through it, more than he ever had before. The jutsu he was about to use hadn't even been practiced, it was something he had thought about in theory only and the chances of it working were very slim. Unfortunately, he didn't really have any choice, he only had one defensive jutsu and it was a wind jutsu and that would simply make the fireball fry him faster._

"_Uzumaki Hijutsu: Hiton: Awai No Tate (Uzumaki Hidden Technique: Light Release: Shield of Light)!" a nearly white film of bright, glowing chakra burst from the cracks of the sheathed blade. He pulled Hikage No Ookami out and sliced down in one smooth motion. A mere second later the fireball hit a large done of light before exploding, protecting Naruto from the worst damage._

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"It was a close thing," Naruto admitted, "had I been a second late with that jutsu I would have died. Even with that my jutsu still failed as the explosion was dying down, if it weren't for that the fact that I am the jinchūriki for the Kyuubi No Yokō I probably would have died."<p>

"**The Kyuubi No Yokō?"** the dragons eyes, despite not really widening, still managed to portray its shock. This child held the most powerful demon in the world? The one who had been instrumental in the many wars that humanity had against demon kind? Now this was...

"**Interesting,"** the dragon murmured as it eyed the boy who somehow managed to lift his blade and get into a fighting stance. It could tell the boy was on his last leg, if the way he was slouched over wasn't enough, then the fact that his eyes were half-lidded and droopy and he was panting heavily did. It was amazing that he had even survived its fireball, much less had the energy to continue putting up a defiant stance.

"**Put away your sword child,"** the dragon said, confusing the boy. **"You have proven yourself to me, I, Bahamut, King of all dragons grant you permission to be our summoner."**

"Really?" asked Naruto, too tired to actually give any emotion other than exhaustion. Bahamut nodded, amused when the blond fell onto his back side and breathed out, "thank kami."

"**We dragons shall fight beside you, young one,"** Bahamut continued, **"should you need us, just summon us and we shall fight for you." **Noticing that the boy was too tired to pay attention, the great dragon let loose a chuckle and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Ugh..." Naruto moaned pitifully, "I think this battle was worse than fighting the Sanbi..."

Akane shook her head and smiled, even as she released the breath she had been holding for nearly the entire fight. **_"You did an excellent job Naru-kun, to be a summoner of the dragon contract is probably one of the greatest honors. In fact, the dragon contract is one of four legendary contracts and holds the most powerful fighters, and...Naru-kun?" _**she questioned when she noticed that she could no longer see out of his eyes. It was than she realized he had passed out and she snickered a little, **_"I guess he's all tuckered out, then again, he did just fight the dragon king. I'll inform him of the dragon contract later."_**

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><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>it was two days later that Naruto found himself in the port town that was closest to Uzu No Kuni, a small port located off the edge of Hi No Kuni. After waking up the blond had cleaned himself of the grime of battle and thanked the high heavens that he had the forethought to bring several sets of clothing. If not, he would have likely been the center of attention when he came into town. Or it would be more accurate to say that he would have even more attention than he already did, thanks to a lot of people having seen him running across the ocean to reach the town.<p>

Now he just had to find a place to stay, having water walked across a twelve mile expanse of ocean Naruto was dead tired and wanted nothing more than to rest. He walked around town until his eyes landed on the first hotel in the city. He opened the door and walked in, renting out a room and marching upstairs. He didn't even bother to take off his clothes as his head hit the pillow and he past out.

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>almost too soon Naruto woke up due to the light shining in from the window. He let loose a groan before rolling out of bed and entering the shower. After turning the water on to its hottest setting the still tired blond proceeded to strip out of his clothes from yesterday before taking a long shower. Getting out only after he felt himself waking up fully.<p>

After getting dressed again he went downstairs and was about to sit down at one of the tables in the bar too get some breakfast when his eyes landed on a family of three. A man with dark brown hair and grey eyes was sitting with a woman that had light brown hair and brown eyes, both of them looked to be in their mid-forties, though they seem to have aged prematurely due to the lines around their eyes and mouths. A little boy of about eight sat with them, looking like a combination between the two.

Naruto changed directions as soon as his eyes had landed on them and he was standing in front of the man, "excuse me?"

The man blinked as he looked up at Naruto, who right now was looking like a man in his mid-thirties with jet-black hair and black eyes. "Yes? Can I help you?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head, "no, I actually wanted to give you something." The words seemed to confuse the man until Naruto pulled out a locket with the word Carla written on the back. The blond heard the woman gasped and watched as the mans eyes began to water, even as he took the locket from Naruto's hand.

"Where... where did you get this?" the man asked, his voice quivering and it wasn't hard to see the man was just barely holding himself together.

"I had actually heard about bandits raiding the town where your daughter was kidnapped," the blond said. "I had managed to find them and take them and found that locket, but by the time I did you had already left," Naruto's eyes softened as he watched the woman and man start to tear up.

He turned around and was about to leave when a hand rested on his shoulder. Naruto turned his head to see the man, tears unabashedly running down his cheeks, clutching the locket to his chest. "Thank you," he croaked out, "for allowing us to at least know the fate of our daughter."

Naruto closed his eyes, he had already shed his tears and he would be damned if he began crying over this again. "You don't need to thank me, I was unable to save her, the very least I could do was avenge her death," he said quietly.

"Did she suffer?"

"No," Naruto lied. He didn't tell the man that his daughter had been desecrated in the most disgusting way possible, it was bad enough they now had absolute proof of their daughters demise that he wouldn't add to their pain. "However you can be assured that the people who killed her did."

The man seemed to nod and Naruto was almost sure that the merchant knew he was lying, but he seemed to accept it and smiled at him. "Then I do owe you my thanks, for avenging my daughter," the man tried to pull out his wallet but Naruto's hand stopped him.

"Keep your money," Naruto said, "if you really want to thank me then just protect your son. I have no need for money and wouldn't think to take it from you."

"If... your sure," the man said, taking his hand out of his pocket as Naruto let go, "thank you again."

nodding to the man Naruto left the hotel, his appetite gone.

"_**Are you alright, Naru-kun?"**_ asked Akane, concerned this might have opened up an old wound.

"_Fine," _Naruto said, _"strangely, I feel like like I've been given some kind of closure, or maybe like an old wound has finally healed."_

Akane poured in her love and compassion through the seal, _**"I'm glad."**_ Naruto smiled as he made his way out of the town, just as he was leaving a strange wind blew across his path. He couldn't be sure, but Naruto could swear he the wind sounded like the voice of a young woman saying "Thank you".

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>After Naruto got home the first thing Naruto did was have his Chishio Bunshin dispel. Due to the amount of time he had spent away Naruto had to meditate in order to sort through the memories of his clone. Both he and Akane were greatly amused by some of the pranks his Bunshin had played on the people of Konoha, particularly on the Clans and one Sasuke Uchiha. They spent a good few minutes laughing at certain instances in the clones memory before they were finished.<p>

Later on Naruto worked on the issues of Arashi Kazama, creating two hundred clones to begin making seals that he could give to Kaizuki. Hopefully by this time tomorrow they would have the one thousand seals that the man wanted for his store. With his affairs in order Naruto finally allowed himself to lay down on his bed and enter the seal.

He appeared next to the lake with the waterfall that he had first seen Akane nude in, blushing a bit at the memory that the sight invoked. It took a bit of walking before he found where Akane was. Sometime during his stint in Mizu No Kuni she had fashioned a small hut made of wood with a traditional Japanese sliding door.

Walking up to it Naruto slid the door open and stepped in, taking off his shoes and setting them aside just after he closed the door. He turned and looked into the room.

It was very spartan in the sense that there was not that much decoration to the room and only a few amenities. It had all the standards of a bedroom, a dresser, a night stand, a desk, a book shelf filled with books, and a bed. Despite the fact that it didn't hold much in it, everything it did hold was extravagantly done. The wood was all some kind of very rich looking dark wood that was polished to a shine and had golden inlays of the Uzumaki Clan symbol in them, and the bed was large enough to hold six or seven people easily, with very soft, velvety looking crimson sheets and the plush pillows.

And lying on that bed was none other than Akane, sleeping soundly. Naruto smiled as he crept over to the bed and sat down, sinking into the mattress slightly and causing the vixen to shift in her sleep. He took in her form, running his eyes over her body. She wasn't under the covers and her choice of clothing was just a sheer nightgown that allowed Naruto to see every part of her as clear as if she were wearing nothing at all. He easily noticed that the only other piece of clothing she was wearing were black, lace panties.

Reaching out with a hand he moved his fingers into her hair and began to run them along the red of the woman's crimson locks. Akane's face lit up in a small smile as she moved into his hand and Naruto grinned as he heard her begin to purr. He looked at her lush and full looking crimson colored lips. They were slightly parted in an adorable expression and Naruto couldn't help himself as he leaned down and kissed them.

Though the touch was feather light Akane hadn't been sleeping that heavily at the moment, having only been taking a small fox nap, she refused to call it a cat nap for reasons she wouldn't tell Naruto. Thus it wasn't surprising that she woke up to feel his lips caressing her own.

A smile found its way to her face as she began to kiss back, wrapping her arms around Naruto and pulling him down on so that he straddling her. The position didn't last as she rolled them over until she was on top of him, situated between his legs as they continued enjoying the feeling of being so close and open with one another. When the broke the kiss Akane smiled at him, **"I hope I can expect that kind of wake up call from you all the time."**

Naruto grinned as he gave her a small peck on the nose, "if that's what you want I'd be more than happy to oblige you."

Akane's smile grew into a grin that matched her blond lovers and she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, **"so is there a reason you woke me up?"**

"Honestly?" Naruto shrugged, "I simply couldn't help myself, you just looked so adorable that I felt this overwhelming urge to kiss you."

A small blush grew over Akane's face but she kept up her grin, **"just kiss me? You don't want to anything more? You know as a kitsune I know much about the art of... intimacy?" **

Now it was Naruto's turn to blush, "I – I think I'm a little too young for that." He saw Akane pout and said, "I mean we just got together a few days ago and all so..."

"**Yeah, yeah, I understand,"** she laid her head down against Naruto's chest and closed her eyes, **"your just lucky I love you enough that I'm willing to wait..." **she lifted her head and glared at him, **"just know that once I turn you into a Hanyou we are not waiting any longer. Got it?"**

"Got it," Naruto said with a beat red face and, much to Akane's amusement a trickle of blood from his nose.

She laid back down and closed her eyes again, **"good. Now, get some sleep. We've got a long two years ahead of us."**

"Right," Naruto's arms pulled Akane into a tighter embrace, one the vixen welcomed as the two of them went to sleep. It would only be two more years before Naruto's graduation from the academy and his ascension into demon hood. Akane would have to teach him just what being a Hanyou meant during that time. Hopefully, he would be ready for some of the consequences that came with it.

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><p><strong>Here we are! We have reached the end of his child hood! Exciting right? The next chapter will be the genin exams! Stay tuned and peace out!<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Have you ever wondered why I don't own Naruto? I often find myself contemplating this fact, especially in light of the recent manga. I mean, Madara not only gained the Rennigan ON TOP of his godlike eternal Mangekyo Sharingan eye and his Shodaime grafted cells, but now he's made the six jinchūriki that are dead his paths. Does this piss you all of as much as it does me? Not only is he now beyond ridiculously fucking over powered, but he's also blatantly insulting the jinchūriki he's killed by using them as his paths! God its times like these I really hate Kishimoto.**

**Anyways, rants over with, on with the story.**

**Chapter 14: Dawn of a New Day**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>It was a beautiful day in the village of Konohagakure No Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves; the sun was just beginning to rise, painting the sky in its red and gold hue, setting the trees ablaze. Shops were beginning to open up and get ready to begin the day as a gentle breeze blew through the village. Everyone could tell it was going to be a beautiful day.<p>

Everyone except Naruto Uzumaki, who was to busy finishing his warm up exercise to notice. That, and he had no windows in his room so he couldn't actually see outside of his apartment anyways. Currently, the young whiskered marked blond was doing his usual run around the lake inside of his apartment flat. Due to the harsh training he had gone through for the previous seven years of his life, as well as the Civil War he had been involved in just two years ago, he was already used to getting up before the crack of dawn, even Akane couldn't stop his internal alarm clock anymore. And she had stopped trying years ago.

Naruto let loose a deep breath as he finished his morning run and then stretched his muscles before heading back upstairs. He divested himself of his pants before he even reached the second floor, throwing it into a dirty hamper before the rest of his sweat soaked clothing followed. Now completely in the buff he moved into his Jacuzzi tub and turned on the shower head. He sighed in relief as the warm water began to spray on him, helping ease the tension in his back, legs and just about every other muscle in his body. He stayed in there for nearly half an hour before finally washing himself off.

"_**You should probably hurry up Naru-kun,"**_ an amused voice spoke within his mind. **_"You know the Dolphin's gonna be upset if your late to your graduation test."_**

"_I know, I know, don't worry so much Akane-chan,"_ Naruto replied as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel located on a small rack next to the tub. He quickly proceeded dry himself off before moving out of the bathroom, or the general area of his bath since he had no real walls to separate rooms.

As he continued moving he stopped and looked at himself in the mirror. He had grown well, no longer the malnourished little child he had been before meeting Akane, at five foot one he was the tallest kid in his class, at least he would be if his class had seen him outside of his chibi form. Aside from being as tall as he was, Narutp's body was covered in hard whipcord-like muscles. They weren't bulky like the ones he had seen on some ninja, he had trained his body to rely on a perfect balance between speed and strength, thus his muscles were toned in such a way that even the slightest of movements made them flex, yet he kept off all of the unwanted bulk that would weigh him down. Unlike most people in Konoha who had pale to fair skin, Naruto had light tanned skin.

His face was almost an exact replication of his father's, with bright blue eyes and a face that any woman worth her salt would consider drool worthy. His general facial structure was angular with a strong jaw-line while still somehow managing to maintain a soft, boyish look, giving him what would be considered by many woman to be a "rogue-like" charm. His hair consisted of spiky sun-kissed golden blond locks with a fringe went down to his eyes and two jaw-length bangs on either side, a style he had taken in remembrance of his father, and it was a good way to both insult and confuse the people who had abused him as a kid.

"_**How sweet of you Naru-kun, you know I always enjoy a good show,"**_ Akane teased, causing Naruto to blush lightly at being caught inspecting himself in the mirror. **_"Maybe you could dance for me too?"_**

"_Perhaps later," _Naruto said, trying to get back at her, _"so long as you behave yourself, my Benihime."_

"_**So long as you back up that promise I'll be good,"**_ Akane said as Naruto walked over to the dresser and began to pull out his clothes for today.

"_Today's the day I stop hiding," _Naruto said, more to himself than Akane but she heard him all the same. He set his clothes on the bed and began to get changed. When he finished, he moved to his closet and pulled out several items, a box, his sword, Hikage Ookami, and his sheath. Setting the box down and opening he began to pull out the contents, said contents being armor plating. One by one he put the armor on, locking each piece in place before setting his sword in its sheath and strapping it to his back. Finally finished with his clothes he went back over to the mirror to make sure everything looked perfect.

The clothing he had on was pure black, a pair of sturdy ninja-styled pants and a skin-tight, black sleeveless shirt that had a built in shinobi mask that would conceal the lower half of his face if it were up at the moment. He had white bandages wrapped around both of his ankles and a pair of black armbands that went from his wrist to mid bicep. Over his ankles he had a pair metal shin guards and forearm protectors on his wrists, both sets of armor had a red Uzumaki clan crest on them. Likewise, he had a pair of iron-plated fingerless gloves that had an inlaid grip on his palm. He had a kunai pouch strapped to each leg and another pouch behind him that held his scrolls. Finishing his outfit he had leather straps around his back and chest, which held the sheath his sword was in.

"_What do you think Akane-chan?"_ asked Naruto as he adjusted the sword on his back.

He heard a very sexy purr in his mind, _**"you look delicious enough to eat. In fact, when you come home today I may just end up 'feasting' on you."**_

Naruto blushed at the double meaning to her words but after years of her flirtatious ways, he was more than up to the task of teasing her back. _"So long as you let me return the favor,"_ he said, his voice coming out with a slight growl.

Akane shivered lightly as Naruto moved away from the mirror and headed down stairs, sitting at the table in his kitchen as a Kage Bunshin just finished setting his breakfast on the table. "Thank you," Naruto said despite the fact that he was essentially thanking himself. The clones seemed to appreciate the little things though, as did this one who nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.

As Naruto began to eat Akane decided to broach the subject on something that would soon become prevalent tonight, _**"you remember what tonight is right?"**_

"_Tonight is the night I become a half demon,"_ Naruto didn't even have to think about it in order to remember the significance of this day. Akane had been preparing him for his ascension to half demon for the past two years now, what it would mean for him. He had long stopped thinking of himself as a human, and was more than ready for his ascension.

"_**That's right,"**_ Akane said, **_"so I want you to create several Kage Bunshin and have them begin preparing the seals inside of one of the abandoned rooms."_**

"_What time will we begin the ceremony?" _asked Naruto as he finished eating and made another clone to clean the dishes.

"_**Midnight."**_

Naruto nodded as he made his way outside, sealing the door shut before he began his walk to the academy. On the way there he enjoyed all of the looks of absolute shock he could see written on the faces of the people around him. So surprised were they that they didn't even notice his whisker marks as they began whispering and muttering as he passed. Though, while he enjoyed those looks, feeling that these people deserved it for being so stupid and not noticing his looks even when he was a Chibi, he did not enjoy the looks of undisguised lust that were sent his way by many of the women.

Deciding he didn't like being eyed like a piece of meat, the whiskered blond pulled up his face mask, though it could only do so much. _**"Aw, does little Naru-kun not like the attention he's getting?"**_ asked Akane with a teasing coo.

"_No, well, a little," _Naruto admitted, _"I enjoyed the looks of shock and surprise. However, only your allowed to look at me like these women are."_

Akane found herself smiling as a light red tinge came to her cheeks, _**"my, don't you know how to make a woman feel special."**_

Naruto smirked underneath his mask, _"I try."_

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>As Iruka Umino looked at the rowdy and loud class, he couldn't help but feel relief that the year was almost up. These past four years had been one of the most trying he had ever had and he would be glad when it was all over.<p>

"Alright, everybody quiet down," his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as the class continued to talk, speaking in loud voices about how they were finally going to be ninja. "Settle down class!" his voice was a little louder but still didn't really have any effect. Several tic marks popped up on his forehead before he used his Oni Hitsu No Jutsu (Demon Head Technique), a jutsu that expanded his head to three times its normal size, and shouted, "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP YOU BRATS!"

The affects were immediate as all of the kids were suddenly in their seats and their mouths were zipped closed. Iruka coughed into his hand as he began what would be the last day of teaching this year, "its time for roll call, when I call your name let me know your here. Aburame, Shino!"

Shino merely raised his hand, letting Iruka know he was there.

"Akamichi, Coji!

"*munch* here *munch*****" this was how it went, as Iruka called out a name and got a response, until he reached one near the end, "Uzumaki, Naruto!"

Silence.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" he tried again only to get silence, he looked around and frowned when he didn't see the spiky headed blond anywhere. He was slightly worried, despite not really liking him when he first started teaching Iruka had decided to go on the Sandaimes advice and give the kid a chance. He had been very surprised to find that the blond was a lot like he had been when he was in school, acting out and playing pranks, like Iruka had done at that age, Naruto was crying for attention. Because of those similarities he had begun to see the blond ball of sunshine as a surrogate brother.

Meanwhile Mizuki's frown went unnoticed by everyone.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!"

"You should just pass him," said Kiba in a loud and brash voice, "its not like that losers going to pass anyways."

Iruka frowned and opened his mouth, whether to berate Kiba or begin taking roll call again even Iruka didn't know. Nor did he get the chance to find out, for as soon as the chunin instructors mouth opened, so to did the door. Or rather, the door was smashed off its hinges and sent flying, crashing into the opposite wall as someone kicked it in. Everyone turned, eyes wide in surprise as they saw a tall blond kid with spiky golden hair walk in. The guys were all left wondering who the hell this new guy was, well, most guys, one Shikimaru Nara just muttered a quick "troublesome" before going back to sleep. Meanwhile, the females in the room all began to swoon, wondering who the hunk that was even hotter than Sasuke-kun was. Again, all except one pink haired banshee who instantly hated the blond for trying to upstage her Sasuke-kun.

"Can I help you?" asked Iruka, wondering who this Yondaime look alike was. It had actually taken him a moment to bring in his surprise, who ever this kid was he looked like an almost carbon copy of the Yondaime. In fact, the only reason Iruka hadn't immediately suspected this kid was the Yondaime was the height difference, and the fact that said man had been dead for twelve years. "And ask why you kicked my door down?" The young man grinned sheepishly as he raised a hand behind his head, all of the girls gulped as they saw the smile on his face, complete with bishonen level sparkles around him (To them, at least), as well as the way his biceps flexed when he moved.

"Sorry about that sensei," the teen said in a vaguely familiar voice, though Iruka couldn't help but think it should have a lighter tone. "I guess I got so excited about graduation that I couldn't contain myself."

"What are you talking about graduation?" asked Iruka getting more confused by the second. "Your not in my class."

The blond gave a pout, "do you seriously not know who I am sensei? I'm rather hurt." Iruka studied the blond closely as he tried to work out what the kid meant, he was sure he had never seen him anywhere before in his life. After all, it would be hard to miss someone who could be the Yondaime Hokage's twin.

It wasn't until he noticed the three whisker marks that ran across each cheek that he realized who he was looking at. "N-Naruto!" he asked, with his jaw dropping to the floor. At that statement every other person in class looked more closely at the blond and noticed the whisker-like marks adorning his cheeks. At seeing the birthmarks that only one person in Konoha had, everyone had a similar line of thought.

_THAT'S Naruto!_

Well, all except for Hinata that is, whose thought processes didn't even get that far before she passed out via nose-bleed.

"I'm glad to see I haven't been forgotten so easily," Naruto said with a smirk.

"Right, well, you can't really blame me," Iruka said, still trying to decide if this really was Naruto. "Can I ask what uh, happened to you?"

"Sorry sensei," Naruto replied as he walked further in the room, "all I can tell you is that a ninja's best weapon is deception." And with that Iruka's eyes widened as he realized what he meant though he was saddned that Naruto would hide this from others, he also couldn't help but wonder how he was able to hide something like this from everone. Meanwhile all of the students were confused, wonder what the whiskered blond meant by that. Naruto just sat down next to Shino, taking off his sword and setting it on the table before offering the bug user a nod, and getting a nod in return.

No one but Naruto noticed the way Mizuki glared at the blond.

Attendance continued after the interruption, with Ino Yamanaka being the last person. Iruka than decided to get right down to the test, "its now time for the test, this will consist of a four-part exam, a written test, an accuracy test, a taijutsu test, and a ninjutsu test. We will start with the written exam, which Mizuki will pass out to all of you."

As he said that Mizuki grabbed a sheet of test papers, handing them out to each person. He got to Naruto and sneered but handed him the paper anyways. Naruto wasn't surprised to see that it was not genjutsu'd, Iruka may not have liked Naruto at first, but even than he had been fair and never put up with Mizuki trying anything. The man wouldn't dare attempt to mess with a test as important as this.

But just in case Naruto sent a pulse of chakra at his paper to make sure there was no genjutsu before beginning. The written exam was easy, boringly so, Naruto ended up finishing his test within the first fifteen minutes and was now leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. Several people, mainly girls, looked back at him; one Hinata Hyuga was particularly bad in that respect.

When the test ended Iruka called time, "turn in your test papers and head out to the training ground in the back, its time for the physical portion of the exam." Everyone did as told, Naruto waited to go last and slipped his paper somewhere in the middle so Mizuki couldn't meddle with it. Afterwords he followed everyone else outside.

"We're going to begin with the accuracy test first," Iruka said, "when I call your name please come up and throw the shuriken, then the kunai. Aburame, Shino!" Things went like they did every time they practiced accuracy, Shino and Kiba scored good grades, eight out of ten shuriken, and eight out of ten kunai for Kiba and nine out of ten shuriken, and ten out of ten kunai for Shino. Meanwhile Sasuke once again got once again scored a perfect ten out of ten for both, and as he had done every time during weapons throwing, he threw his each set of weapons at once. Everyone else score somewhere in between, the civilians were still only slightly better due to the fact that they could only practice at school.

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" Naruto grinned brightly as he made his way up. He looked at Iruka to see the man giving him an encouraging smile, "just relax Naruto, and you'll do fine."

"Oh, don't worry about me sensei," Naruto said with a bright smile as he took the shuriken. "I've got this covered," with that he threw all ten shuriken with both hands. The spinning ninja stars sailed with deadly accuracy at the wooden training dummy, hitting the wood with ten loud 'thunks' in quick succession. Every one stared in shock while Naruto grinned at his creation, "aw look, he's smiling!"

Indeed, Naruto was right, the wooden target dummy, which was vaguely human shaped, had all ten shuriken lodged in its head, the ninja stars arranged in such a way that it looked like a smiling face.

"G-Good job!" Iruka said, both surprised and pleased as he wrote down the score on his clipboard. "Now the kunai."

Naruto took the kunai and gave a thoughtful frown, wondering what he should make next. The next moment his eyes brightened and he threw all ten kunai at the same time. This time, he decided to try something different. As the pointed weapons hit the dummy, they didn't just stop at the dummy. Instead they blew ten holes right through the training dummies chest, showering the general vicinity with wood chips as the kunai continued on to hit the tree behind it with several loud cracks, embedding themselves deeply in the wood.

Everyone stared in wonder at the holes, their eyes wide and mouths agape. Many of the students were unsure what to think as they looked from the wholes to the new (to them) Naruto.

"Excellent job!" Iruka said, no longer surprised by what he was seeing. After that first display Iruka had realized that Naruto had hidden more than just his looks, he had hidden his skills. The scarred chunin was slightly saddened that Naruto even felt the need to hide his talents from others, but also proud that the blond had taken the most important shinobi principle and applied it in such a way that he had fooled everyone around him.

"Heh, what did you expect sensei?" asked Naruto in a rhetorical fashion as he walked back to the crowd of genin while Ino Yamanak went up for her test. As he stood there many of the male students eyed him wearily, wondering where this sudden well of talent sprung up, or if it was just luck. At the same time many of the females, had switched their attention from Sasuke to Naruto, causing said blond to hide a shiver.

The next stage of the test was the taijutsu portion, after they had all moved towards the sparring field, a small dirt field with a metal ring around it, Iruka called out names while Mizuki stepped into the field. Naruto didn't even need to pay attention to the test to know who would do well in this portion; Shino would do enough to get a high passing grade, but no more than was strictly necessary so he could hide his skills. Kiba would do his best, actually getting the second highest grade, at least he normally would, if Naruto had any intention of holding back. Sasuke would get the 'best' score there, Choji would be fourth, Shikimaru would be last; being too lazy to do more than last the required ten minutes. Hinata would actually do alright, she never hit her opponent because she was afraid, but she lasted the full ten minutes without getting hit either. Ino and Sakura would both do horribly, neither trained and dieted so they did not have the physical prowess to do much, and the civilian children were everywhere in between.

A grin once again had spread across his face as he walked on to the sparring field. By now, everyone expected him to do something shocking and were actually taking bets on how good he would do.

"I think he's gonna fail," Kiba said, "I mean, it had to be luck, he's the dead-last for crying out loud! How good could he be? Right, Akamaru?" the white pup on his head barked in what sounded like an affirmitive.

"I don't know," Choji muttered, "I mean, did you see what he did with those kunai? And how about when he made that smiley face with the shuriken?"

"Like I said, I bet it was all luck," Kiba said, turning to the kid who was taking bets."Put me down for five yen on him losing."

"Troublesome," Shikimaru muttered.

"put me down for five yen on him getting the top score," everyone turned and stared at Shino in shock, having never spoken in class most just thought he was mute. Hell, the one time Iruka had tried to make him speak the bug user had just stared the man down until he called on someone else. The bet taker just nodded dumbly and put Shino's name down.

"Ready?" asked Iruka, looking at Naruto and therefore missing the smirk on Mizuki's face.

Though Naruto didn't, _"I am so going to enjoy wiping that look off his face." _Out loud he said, "I was born ready sensei."

"Right, then Hajime!"

Almost before the words had even left Iruka's mouth Mizuki was charging the whiskered blond. To most of the genin there, the chunin was more of a blur than a consistent shape. Only Sasuke, Shino and Kiba could actually keep up with him. Naruto could too of course, but comparing the way Naruto saw him to the way others saw him simply wasn't fair. Because to Naruto the guy was moving at a snails pace, and that was an insult to the snail.

Mizuki came in and reared back his fist, throwing it out in an effort to hit the blond. He smirked as Naruto didn't move, only for his eyes to widen as his fist passed right through the blonds face. He stumbled and looked around wide eyed as he tried to find out where the blond kid had gone. However, no matter how hard he looked he couldn't seem to find Naruto; not in front of him, not to the left, or the right, not behind, not even above. It was like the damn brat had disappeared.

Little did Mizuki know that Naruto was in fact, right next to him. He had taken to hiding right behind the chunin academy instructor, moving when ever the older male moved so that he stayed behind him at all times. Naruto looked over at the other academy students who were watching wide eyed, and winked before holding a finger to his lips, getting most people to put a fist in their mouths to keep from laughing.

"I think he ran off Iruka," Mizuki said, keeping his voice light even though there was a very slight sneer in it that Naruto could detect. "Since he's not here I guess that means he fails."

"Uh... actually Mizuki's he's -" Iruka tried to point behind Mizuki but it was at that moment that Naruto decided to make himself known.

By kicking Mizuki right in the ass.

"AAHHH!" Mizuki screamed as he flew into the air, his hands holding onto his now in deep pain ass crack. It not only hurt, but the whole thing was so shocking that he couldn't even flip himself to land on his feet, instead landing right on his ass.

"mhmhmhmhahahahaHAHAHA!" Naruto began laughing loudly, along with the rest of the class, minus two, even Iruka was trying to contain his snicker.

Enraged and embarrassed, Mizuki jumped up and spun around, charging at Naruto who was grinning widely. The white haired instructor threw out his fist, only for Naruto to tilt his head to the side, letting the fist pass by and just barely graze his hair, grabbing the chunin's wrist with his left hand, and yanking on it. Then, when Mizuki's eyes widened and he found himself flying toward the blond academy student, Naruto jumped into the air and smashed his foot right in Mizuki's chest, letting go of the wrist simultaniously. The end result?

Mizuki was sent flying backwards, out of the ring, the only real reason he even stopped flying was because the wall of the academy was on that side. A wall that he hit hard enough to leave spiderweb cracks in, before he slid down the wall, completely unconscious.

Eyes once again widened, the others were to shocked by what had just transpired in the last ten minutes to even begin whispering about what they had seen. While everyone had expected something surprising from the blond Uzumaki, no one had suspected this.

"So..." Naruto began conversationally, getting everyone to turn their eyes back to him, "did I pass?"

The resulting mass face-fault was one that he would remember for all time.

"Y...yes, you passed," despite having told himself he would not be surprised, Iruka found himself surprise. That word he felt was a particular understatement because it didn't really do his state of perpetual shock justice. Still, he marked Naruto off on the board as having recieved a perfect score.

When the last person finished the outside practical portion, and after the several seconds it took to wake up Mizuki, the class made their way back inside the academy. As he walked Naruto was confronted by several of the students he had gotten to know in his time here, the main one being Kiba, who, in a loud voice asked, "what the hell was that?"

Naruto tilted his head to the side and blinked at him, he discreetly did his best to ignore the disturbing 'squea!' sound that came from all girls save two, and asked a question of his own, "what do you mean?"

"Grr! You know damn well what I mean!" Kiba growled, "how the hell did you take out Mizuki like that!"

"Oh, that," Naruto said lightly, his mischievous grin coming into play. He stopped suddenly, causing all those behind him to as well. Leaning in, he made everyone else do so, hoping that he would tell him just what happened. "That," They would all be disappointed, "is a secret!"

another round of face-faults followed and Naruto let a small chuckle against him as he walked into their classroom. "That damn Naruto," Kiba growled, "well I won't lose to him. We'll show him whose top dog, Akamaru!"

"Tch, this is so troublesome," Shikimaru muttered as he followed everyone else in as well.

"Its time for the last portion of your exam," Iruka said as everyone was seated. "The ninjutsu portion, when I call your name, I want you to perform the three academy jutsu, Henge (Transormation), Kariwimi (Replacement), and the Bunshin No Jutsu (Clone Jutsu)."

Everyone began talking as soon as Iruka left, conversations varied, the guys talked about how cool it was they would soon be ninja, and a few were cracking jokes at how stupid Mizuki looked when Naruto kicked his ass. That last one caused Naruto to smile.

The girls on the other hand were holding a gossip about boys, namely two.

"I don't know who to choose," said girl number three. "I mean, look at them! Their both soo hot!"

"I know," girl number four said, "Sasuke-kun has that dark, mysterious look and the tragic past, it just makes you want to help heal his wounded soul." All the girls gave a dreamy sigh, imagining themselves helping Sasuke heal, getting married, and having his babies. A disturbing image if there ever was one.

"On the other hand," girl number four continued, "you have Naruto. He surprised us all, somehow going from dead-last loser to sexy adonis in a day. He has that super hot smile that makes you just melt inside," que dreamy sigh, "those super dreamy blue eyes," que even bigger dreamy sigh, "and, if you look at him, he looks exactly like Yondaime-Sama," que fan girlish like squeal. "I just don't know who to choose!"

"I say we choose both!" everyone turned to look at fan girl number one, or at least, the one tied for number one. Ino Yamanaka stood up with a determined fire in her eyes. Not much had changed about her in recent years, the only difference besides growing a little taller was that she had grown her hair longer and was wearing it in a pony tail. "Whose to say we have to choose one! Why can't we have both!"

"She's right!"

"We can!"

"I say, lets do it!"

All of the girls seemed to agree with this, nodding their concurrent. All except one. "How could you girls even think to betray Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura said harshly, scowling at all of the girls. Like Ino the only change Sakura went through was growing her hair out, in fact, she had changed even less because Ino at the very least was starting to grown in ways a woman should. "Have we not dedicated ourselves to Sasuke-kun! Have we not worked hard to get in his good graces! You girls should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Why?" asked Ino, frowning at her friend. "It's not like Sasuke-kun ever actually gives us the time of day."

"Yeah, and he never smiles."

"And he's never said a kind word to any of us."

"I think he hates us."

At this revelation the girls mind set changed as someone suggested they switch targets to the newly minted 'Naruto-kun', a suggestion which everyone but Sakura seemed to agree on. As all of the girls began chattering excitedly about what they would need to change now that they were no longer the 'Sasuke-kun fan club' Sakura scowled even more and decided to leave these girls, lest she be infected by their stupidity.

_I can't believe those ungrateful, unFAITHFUL sluts!_

_**That's right! How dare they do this to Sasuke-kun! SHANNARO!**_

Meanwhile, Naruto just shook his head, having heard every word those girls were saying thanks to his super enhanced hearing. And he wasn't the only one. A little ways away Kiba had a slight scowl on his face, "why can't I get the girls to want to worship me like that Akamaru?" he asked his little nin-dog. Akamaru simply barked, though Kiba seemed to take comfort in what ever the little dog said.

"_**Seems your quite popular now, eh, Naru-kun?"**_ asked Akane, truth was she was more amused than anything. The whole sheep mentality really shined at times like this; one minute someones a loser, the next he's the hottest bachelor since Ryan Reynolds (1). It was simply amazing how people could turn their opinion around like that.

Still, she wasn't worried; aside from the fact that these prepubescent little girls had nothing on her, she and Naruto shared something they never could. And she wasn't talking about how she lived inside of him.

Naruto just sighed and sat there, to keep his mind off of the rabidly growing rabid fan girls, he pulled out a scroll from his back pouch, unsheathed his blade and then unsealed the contents of the scroll. There was a puff of smoke and a very expensive sword cleaning kit appeared in front of him. Naruto uncorked the oil and poured some onto the cloth before he began to polish his sword.

"Dobe, where did you get that sword?" blinking at the familiar voice, Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke glaring at him. He looked back over to where Sasuke usually sat to brood and noticed that he wasn't there, nodding to himself he looked back at Sasuke and shrugged.

"Why do you want to know?" he asked, even as he continued cleaning his blade.

"I demand you give it to me!"

Naruto gave him a 'what the fuck' look that went completely ignored. "I'm not giving you my sword Sasuke," the blond said, looking back down. "And its pretty sick that you would even ask that; I didn't know you played for the other field."

Snickers went all around at the not-so-subtle insult on Sasuke's sexual preference. It had actually been a debate among all the guys in class on whether or not the last Uchiha was gay, mainly because he had all those girls throwing themselves at him everyday, and he did absolutely nothing. So far the bets on him being in the closet were one and five, for the closet.

Sasuke's scowl increased at the insult, "Give me your sword!"

"If you want to play with a sword, use your own," more laughs emerged. Sasuke's face turned red in rage, but before he could do anything, someone else decided she had to 'defend her Sasuke-kun's honor'.

"GIVE SASUKE-KUN YOUR SWORD NARUTO NO BAKA!" Sakura shouted as she stomped up to Naruto, curling up her not-actually-there sleeves.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "uh, how about... no."

Sakura growled as she got ready to pound him into the ground, "NA-RU-TO!"

"Uzumaki, Naruto!" Sakura swung her fist just as Naruto heard his name called. Then Sakura's fist smashed into his cheek.

Only for Naruto to disappear in a puff of smoke.

And Sasuke to go flying out, smashing his head into a wall and knocking him out cold. Everyone was so busy staring in shock at what happened that they completely missed Naruto entering the room for his ninjutsu exam.

Naruto chuckled as he heard a scream of "SASUKE-KUN!" from outside. He saw both of the instructors looking at him, clearly saying 'what did you do?'. However, Naruto just chuckled and shrugged as he walked in.

"Alright," Iruka said, snapping himself out of his stupor he proceeded to explain the final part of the test. "Ok, Naruto, I want you to do a Henge, and NOT that henge!" he added the last part knowing of Naruto's most dangerous jutsu. A jutsu so powerful that it was known as the Kage/pervert-killer.

"Sure thing sensei," Naruto said as he went through his hand seals in an exaggeratedly slow motion. He didn't need anyone to know he could do this jutsu without hand seals. Come to think of it, he didn't need them to know he could do it silently either, "Henge No Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke enveloped Naruto, and Iruka waited on baited breath. When the smoke cleared he sighed in relief, for their standing before him was a perfect replica of Kakashi Hatake, complete with little orange porno book, and perverted giggling.

"Nice job Naruto," Iruka said, "you can change back now."

However, 'Kakashi' just giggled and said, "wait, wait, wait, this is the best part of the story." Flipping a page 'Kakashi' giggled again and Iruka face palmed.

"Naruto..."

"Fine, ruin my fun," a puff of smoke later, a pouting Naruto appeared in Kakashi's place.

"Now, give me a Kariwimi," said Iruka and Naruto went through the necessary hand seals and shouted the name of the technique. There was another burst of smoke, and went it cleared the two chunin academy instructors went wide eyed with shock.

For there standing before them was not a log, it was none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Said aging Hokage held the exact same book that 'Kakashi' had been reading just a few seconds ago, a large blush was staining his cheeks, he was giggling perversely and worst of all was the blood dripping down his nose. "Oh Akiko-chan," Sarutobi held a hand to his face and giggled perversely, "you naughty, naughty girl."

"H-Hokage-Sama?" asked Iruka in a slight stutter. Sarutobi's head snapped up so fast Iruka and Mizuki heard a loud crack. The Hokage's eyes widened and he looked around, it wasn't long before he realized he was not at his desk. Hell, he wasn't even in his office!

Acting quickly, the old man hid his Icha Icha between his robes and coughed in his hand, "Iruka-kun, might I ask how I got here?" The way he asked that made Iruka feel like if he answered wrongly something very bad would happen to him. He was thankfully saved from saying anything when the man disappeared in another puff of smoke and Naruto replaced the aging but still powerful Hokage.

"Hehehe, I meant to grab just his book but ended up grabbing him instead," Naruto said embarrassedly.

Iruka shook his head and sat down, he really couldn't wait for this day to end. "Naruto, why don't you just finish up with the Bunshin No Jutsu so we can get this test over with."

Naruto nodded even as he pondered the question of, which clone jutsu should he choose? There were so many options after all, and each one had there merits. The Kage Bunshin, for instance, was a B ranked Kinjutsu and would show just how talented he was to be able to do something that most jonin have trouble doing. Of course, there was also the Rai Bunshin (Lightning Clone), which he was supremely thankful Itachi had copied down onto the scroll the man had given Naruto. There was also his own clone jutsu, the Kaze Bunshin (Wind Clone), then there was the Mizu Bunshin (Water Clone). So many options...

He shook his head and decided not to show of, placing his hand in the necessary hand seals he shouted, "Bunshin No Jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke, a large, puff of smoke. And when it cleared jaws became unhinged, eyes went wide, as there standing before them was a veritable army of Bunshin's. They filled every inch of the floor, the walls, the ceiling, there simply seemed to be no end to them. And then they burst into smoke and just like that, only the real Naruto was standing there, a huge grin on his face.

"So, how about that Forehead protector Iruka-sensei?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>The newly minted genin Naruto Uzumaki smiled as he made his way down the street, his forehead protector shining proudly in its place on his head. The blond still couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered the way Iruka had just stared at him with a disbelieving expression while handing over his forehead protector. It was almost as good as seeing the shocked faces of everyone else when he came out with it. And now he was on his way to Ichiraku's ramen to celebrate.<p>

"_**Just remember to be home later tonight for your ascension," **_Akane reminded him. **_"Try not to lose track of time."_**

"_Don't worry I won't,"_ Naruto said, _"and even if I do, you'll remind me."_

"_**If that's the way you feel than maybe I shouldn't,"**_ Akane teased, **_"I feel more like your mother than your lover."_**

"_Than I feel totally sickened considering I've been sucking face with my mom this whole time," _Naruto smirked when he heard a growl in his mind and knew that he had won this round.

Naruto one, Akane two hundred and sixty-five.

He soon entered the small ramen stand that he had fallen in love with at the age of six. Sitting down on his specially reserved bar stool, Naruto shouted, "Oi! Ojisan, how about you cook up some ramen for your favorite genin!"

Teuchi Ichiraku, own of Ichiraku's ramen turned from where he was boiling some noodles to see an odd blond sitting there. Though he was only odd for so long until the old ramen chef saw the familiar grin and three whisker marks on each cheek. He was very surprised to see the new changes his favorite customer had gone through, but he had seen stranger things and was able to just accept it as some weird Naruto quirk. It was after that acceptance that he noticed the boys words and the new forehead protector.

"Well, I'll be!" Teuchi said congenially, a large smile on his face. "So you finally graduated huh?"

"Of course," Naruto smirked, "you didn't think I would fail did you?"

Teuchi just laughed before shouting into the back, "hey Ayame! Help me cook up some ramen for our favorite customer to celebrate his graduation!"

"Did someone say graduation?" came the call from the back as Ayame Ichiraku came out carrying a large box that she soon set down. Ayame had long brown hair, eyes of the same colour and fair skin. She was wearing a white robe with the sleeves folded, some kind of dark blue apron with ribbon tied at the top and a bright white bandanna. At fifteen years of age Naruto could honestly that Ayame had grown into a very pretty young woman.

"_**Not as pretty as me I hope."**_

"_She's pretty, your so stunningly beautiful and sexy that I often find myself at a loss for words."_

"_**Charmer."**_

"_I try."_

"Hey Ayame-chan!" Naruto greeted enthusiastically.

Ayame blinked as she stared at who she perceived to be a new guy greeting her with such familiarity. A new guy who she also thought was ultra-super-hot. She blushed, heavily. "Um... hello?"

"Don't you recognize me Ayame-chan?" asked Naruto, feeling somewhat mischievous as he saw her blush. When Ayame didn't seem to know who he was and just blushed even deeper he said, "it's me! Naruto!"

"N-Naruto-kun?" she said, her eyes widening. By now her blush had spread not just to the whole of her face, but to her arms as well.

"Yep," Naruto said with a grin, before he gained a concerned look. "Hey, are you alright? Your face is all red," Ayame felt her face begin to catch fire as the blond jumped over the counter and walked up to her, putting a hand to her head, causing her to 'eep!' in surprise and embarrassment. "Well, you don't have a fever as far as I can see," he leaned in closer, inhaling deeply. "Mmmm..." he modulated his voice to a slightly husky whisper as he leaned down next to her ear. "Did I ever tell you how delicious you smell. Just... like... ramen..."

Now, telling a girl that she smells nice, was a semi-ok, decent compliment if not also somewhat creepy, ok, very creepy. But telling a girl they smelled like ramen was not only creepy but would normally be taken as an insult.

However, the combined might of Naruto's sudden hotness factor, combined with his hand on her head, being so close she could smell the scent that was uniquely Naruto (Which oddly enough smelled like Ramen and the forest), him leaning in her ear and whispering in a husky voice. All of that combined caused an irresistible combination that completely over powered the terrible creepyness and insulting factor of the compliment.

The reaction?

Steam began to pour out of Ayame's ears as her face turned so red that for a second Naruto actually thought she caught on fire. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her legs gave out on her as she crumpled to the floor, passed out with a trickle of blood running down her nose.

Naruto just stared at her for a moment before looking at Teuchi who just looked supremely amused, "I think we need to get someone else to cook for me tonight, Ojisan."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>I can not believe you just did that,"<strong>_ Akane said, her voice halfway between exasperated and amused.

"_What?"_ Naruto asked defensively, _"she was wide open, how could I 'not' do that."_

"_**And whats your poor "Ayame-chan" gonna think when she wakes up and realizes that her little brother isn't so little anymore?"**_ asked Akane.

"_I don't know, but I doubt she'll become a fan girl,"_ Naruto said, feeling a cold shiver run up his spine. He had a feeling those were going to be a problem from now on. Of course it had nothing to do with the way all those girls in class were eying him like he was a piece of meat, and talking about him, and creating the new 'Naruto-kun fan club' while still in his presence. Nope, nothing at all. _"Anyways, I blame you for my talents. After all, your the one who taught me everything I know, ne, sensei?"_

_**"Whatever,"**_Akane snorted, _**"just get to the room where the clones set up the seals."**_

"_Yes, mistress,"_ Naruto commented jokingly, getting a light growl from the vixen sealed inside of him. He chuckled before walking towards a room on the second floor and opening it. The room had been cleared out this morning, and now held nothing in it. Nothing that could be considered furniture at least.

What it did have were seals. Inside of the room, covering all parts of the floor, walls and ceiling were several sealing arrays. These were designs that Naruto had made to help him ease the process of his ascension to Hanyou, they would also keep anyone from hearing or feeling the process. He didn't want people to wonder why howls of pain were coming from the apartment, or why the place was leaking demonic energy like a fire hydrant. After all, it wouldn't do for people to think the Kyuubi was escaping.

Stripping down to the bare essentials, bare essentials being absolutely nothing, Naruto lay down in the middle of the seals, a large circle with a pentagram seal array inside. _**"Are you ready?" **_asked Akane, wishing she could help him with this part, knowing it would be painful.

"_Yes,"_ Naruto replied.

"**Get ready for the pain."**

It was not a steady build up, the moment Akane's youki flooded the body and the apartment and activated the seals absolute agony ripped through Naruto. It felt like every cell in his body was being torn to shreds, like being melted in a pool of acid, or having his nerve endings destroyed with a branding iron. Akane had told him that it would hurt, and he knew that it would, but being told something and finally feeling it. Those are two completely different things.

He could vaguely hear Akane's voice in his head. Or was it outside of his head? He could barely even think straight much less hear correctly. His vision was getting blurry, and the last thing he saw before he knew no more was a head of red hair.

* * *

><p><strong>Dun dun dun! Naruto kicks ass! takes names! flips the god damn world on his head, and he does with it a smile. I hope you all enjoyed the comedy, there's more to come. So just sit down, shut up and wait for the next chapter.<strong>

**Unless of course you all have your own lives to run, then do your thing and come back later.**

**(1) So I don't really know who this is, but when I asked my sister for the name of a famous dude that she thinks is hot, this was her answer.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Dear god, I'm writing like a freak! I don't even know where all this shit is coming from. I have so many ideas. Maybe I should try and make my own manga/anime. What do you all think?**

**Chapter 15: The Ten Tailed Ookami**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>the first thing Naruto noticed when he woke up was the lack of pain. It wasn't just a lack of pain but the in general feeling that he felt better than he ever had at any previous point in his life. There was no ache, no molten, dripping lava or anything, he felt, for lack of a better word, great.<p>

It was than he began to notice the little things. Details like the fact that his senses were through the roof; he could feel everything going on around him, from the softness of the silken sheets that lay under his fingertips, to the soft, silky, skin-like texture of the pillows his head was resting on and the fingers currently running through his hair, lightly messaging his scalp. Then there was his -

Wait. What?

Opening his eyes Naruto was given a sharp, crystal clear image of Akane grinning down at him. That's when he realized his head was resting on her lap, and it was her fingers that were going through his hair. He also noticed another detail, one which was staring him in the face, given the way she was leaning over him. The fact that Akane was completely and utterly naked.

Naruto blinked a few times as he stared at her breasts, subconsciously licking his lips. "Now this is a sight I could get used to waking up to everyday," he admitted, causing Akane to smile.

"**Perhaps if your lucky you will,"** the vixen quipped back.

Naruto just yawned, stretching his arms over his head before bringing one back in to grabbed the hand Akane was using to run through his hair. He brought to his face and kissed her palm, "I take it my ascension was a success?"

Akane smirked at him, **"what do you think?"** Naruto just sighed at her answer and made to sit up, he was going to walk over to the mirror when his hand was grabbed, halting his progress. Turning he looked at Akane's whose eyes were slightly lidded, her breathing was starting to get a little heavy and the heady scent of honey filled the air.

"Akane?" asked Naruto curiously, wondering at the look. He had seen it before, though not this strongly.

"**Remember what I said Naru-kun?"** Akane breathed, her voice was soft, silk that caressed his ears and made the blond shiver. He opened his mouth but didn't actually get a chance to say anything as the red haired demoness continued, **"I said that once I turned you into a Hanyou, I wasn't waiting!"**

With that Akane yanked Naruto back, hard. The new Hanyou stumbled right on top of Akane, who pullled him down and gave him a searing kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>~The Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It took a while for them both to come down from their post orgasmic high and regain their motor functions. When they did Akane rolled over and cuddled herself into Naruto's side, while he wrapped her up with an arm and pulled her so that she was as close as possible. She threw a leg over his and did her best to tangle it with her mates so she could get comfortable.<p>

"**We are so doing that again," **Akane decided, right before letting out a loud yawn.

Naruto chuckled, "I certainly won't argue with you there, but we should probably get some sleep first."

"**Mmhmm,"** Akane mumbled her response as her eyelids drooped close and her exhaustion caught up to her. Naruto stayed awake just a little bit longer so he could kiss her forehead before he too decided he had prolonged his date with the sandman long enough and went to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The next morning Naruto woke up to the feeling of his lover pressed against him, he sighed contently as he lay there. Last night he and Akane had woken up several more times and made love, sometimes it was a fast paced romp, and others it was slow and gentle. They had shared their love more times than he could count and he couldn't be happier.<p>

"**Thinking deep thoughts?"** Naruto looked down to see Akane staring up at him with a small smile. Her chin was resting lightly on his chest.

"Not really," he replied, "I was thinking of going another round with you."

Akane giggled a bit, **"I'm honestly not sure if I have another round in me,"** she admitted. **"You exhausted me last night," **almost as an afterthought she added, **"and this morning."**

"At least a dozen times if I recall," Naruto responded with a cheeky smile. Akane just lightly swatted his chest with no real malice behind it. They lay there for several more minutes before on some instinctual consent they both decided it was time to get out of bed. Seeing as he was now a Hanyou Naruto made his way to the mirror so he could get a look at himself, and despite knowing he had likely changed the amount of it surprised him.

Naruto had grown nearly one foot, putting him from his original five foot one to six foot one. His muscles, while still holding their sinewy build, were much broader than before to match his new height. He looked older as well, at least six years or so, making him match the eighteen year-old image that was projected in his mindscape. He still looked generally the same, but there were some major differences. For one, his hair had grown longer, it still looked the same in the front, with the fringe and the two jaw length bangs on either side of his face, but the back was now down to his waist. The whisker marks he still there, but had faded some, which was a tad surprising as he expected them to get thicker if anything. Another major change were his eyes, they were still blue though they now held a slight steel-grey added to their tone, his pupils were slitted, and to top it off there was a ring of silver around his iris. It was an odd change but Naruto decide that he liked it.

Finally, his biggest change and the one that shocked him the most. The first, was the fact that his hair now had black streaks added to its golden blond color. They varied in thickness but there were several that ran down the length of his hair. But that was small in comparison to the two ears that had cropped up on his head, they were not the fox ears that he had been expecting. Though they were similar to fox ears there were a few minor differences between thickness and size, they looked more canine than anything. The final finish were the tails that had sprouted from his tail bone. Again they were not fox tails, waving around behind him on their own accord and much less fluffy than fox tails, were ten canine-ish tails swishing behind him.

"Hey, Akane-chan," Naruto said, "how come I'm not a fox?" He found it odd that it was the only question he could think to ask for the moment but discarded that thought since he was curious and his mind could not come up with any theories on its own.

Akane shrugged, **"I don't know, your the only Hanyou that's ever been made due to a Bijuu. Most are born between a union of a demon and a human."** She tapped her chin, **"it's possible that your form is matched to the greatest aspect of your personality, but that's just a theory." **The red head smiled as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She set her head on his shoulder and said, **"still, I rather like what****you are now. I've never seen an Ookami demon before and I've met just about every kind of demonic entity there is. So that makes you unique."**

"So that's what I am," Naruto said as he leaned his head against hers, "an ookami huh. A wolf."

"**Yep," **Akane said.

It was here, staring into the mirror that Naruto finally realized something, something he had not even bothered to notice last night. "Akane?" he said again, "are we in my room?" Akane's answer was for her smile to turn into a grin. Naruto shifted and turned around in her arms as she kept a hold of him. He stared at her with an intensity that made her shiver as it reminded her of their love making last night. "How?" he asked, a simple question that had no easy answer.

Akane shook her head, **"I don't know. One minute I was pumping you full of my youki, and the next, I'm being thrown out of the seal and across the room."**

"So the seal sucked you out," Naruto murmured, his face thoughtful. His eyes focused on her again, "can you show me your stomach?" Knowing what he wanted Akane let go of him and channeled youki into her stomach. Naruto leaned down as he saw a seal spread across her tummy, it looked a lot like the Shiki Fujin, but with one major difference. The seal was inverted.

"Interesting," Naruto murmured as he placed a hand on her stomach, he felt Akane's sharp intake of breath but ignored her growing arousal for the moment. There were so many questions that he now needed answers to. How had Akane gotten sucked out of the seal? Why was her Shiki Fujin inverted? Did it hold any significance to their situation? Or was it always like that? He knew he would need to study the Shiki Fujin in detail to come up with the answer, and that meant talking to the Hokage at some point. As Naruto was just about to pull away he noticed something else about Akane.

Her tails were all gone.

Looking into her eyes Naruto asked, "are you alright?"

Akane smiled as she knew what he was talking about, **"I feel a lot weaker than I was, but I'm fine." **When she saw that he didn't look convinced she laughed and pulled him up into a kiss. **"I'm fine, really. I may not have my tails, but I still have four times more youki than your kage has chakra. Besides, I'll gain my tails back in a little under three years, so don't worry."**

Naruto nodded and at the word tails remembered something else he wanted to know, "why do I have ten tails? I thought I would only get nine."

"**Your chakra reserves were already so high that when it mixed with my youki you had to much power to hold in,"** Akane looked at his tails, **"I suspect that your body created an extra tail to contain your power."** She smirked at him, **"Your know your control is going to be shit, right?"**

At this Naruto groaned as he realized he was going to have to work on chakra control all over again. Youki control, what ever. **"relax,"** Akane said,**"Don't make such a big deal out of it, you big baby. It will be easy, all you'll need to do is make a couple thousand kage bunshin and we can get your control back up there in a week."**

"That's good I suppose," Naruto said. As he calmed down he realized they had one other problem, "we're going to need to buy you some clothes and get me some new ones."

"**Why?"** Akane asked with a grin, **"I could always just wear yours." **She laughed at the look he gave her, which was a mix between turned on and pleading.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto and Akane found themselves walking down the streets of Konoha, it was around midday and the two of them had used their Transformation abilities to change into twelve year old version of themselves (Naruto looked like he did before his ascension). Though, Naruto noticed with some amusement that Akane had neglected to change her breasts size, making them look nearly twice as big than they really were.<p>

As the two of them walked down the street, with Akane latched to his arm, pressing it between her breasts. They ended up drawing quite the crowd. A lot men and women were gawking at them, well, maybe not so much him as Akane. He was sure that part of the reason for this was because his vixen was wearing some of his clothes, his sleep wear to be precise. A large t-shirt and a pair of his boxers. The blond Hanyou was positive that the whole reason she had done this was to get a reaction out of the people around them. At least if the large "cat ate the canary" grin on her face was anything to go by.

They walked into Higurashi's Weapon shop, the store that Naruto had become familiar with and the only one that Naruto knew, through his conversations as Arashi, that the man who owned it would actually let him shop there. Kaizuki didn't seem to be in at the moment, however the blond did see his daughter standing by the register with a bored look on her face.

Tenten Higurashi had brown eyes and long brown hair which she wore in Chinese-style buns, one either side of her head. Her forehead Protector was worn around her head underneath her fringe. She also had on a pink sleeveless blouse and dark green pants. Naruto thought she looked kind of cute.

"_**She's definitely got that cute panda thing going for her with that hair,"**_ Akane chimed in his mind, another ability they had discovered. Even though she was out of the seal, they still held a mental connection with each other. It was an ability Naruto felt would prove useful.

"Hello," Naruto said after walking over to the register with Akane. He was amused when Tenten jumped in surprise, finding it funny that she hadn't even sensed their presence.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully, her face held a light blush at being caught napping. "Welcome to Higurashi weapons store, where we sell all of your shinobi needs. How can I help you?" After her sales pitch she got a good look at the pair, to be more specific she got an eye full of the clothes Akane was wearing. A large blush spread over her face as she turned her head, though her eyes occasionally wondered to them both.

"**Wow!"** Akane said in excitement, **"she even does the sales greeting! I wonder if she can do any other tricks."**

Tentens jaw dropped, but before she could say anything Naruto stepped in, "yo. We were actually hoping you could get us four standard sets of of kunai, shuriken, ninja wire and smoke pellets while Akane-chan and I get some clothes."

"Of course!" Tenten said, doing her best not to look at the dark orange, male boxers Akane had on. "Will you also be needing explosive notes?"

"No," Naruto said as he and his mate went over to the clothing selection, "I can make those myself." Tenten just blinked in surprise at the statement before shrugging and went about getting their supplies. The whiskered blond was quick to pick out his clothes, they were essentially what he was wearing in his transformation, only in his size. Other than that he just watched as Akane flitted about, she would grab a piece of clothing and examine it for a moment, before shaking her head on moving on. It was almost an hour later that his mate had finally decided to head towards the changing room.

At some point during Akane's clothing search, Naruto had gone to the weapons section, thus he didn't see her when she walked into the changing room, nor when she came out. The red head grinned as she walked behind Naruto and wrapped her arms around her neck, her face nuzzling against his.** "Want to see my new outfit,"** she said in that same voice that she had used last night. **"I have a feeling you'll like it."**

Naruto grinned, "alright, let's see." He turned around and his jaw promptly became unhinged. Akane's outfit, simply put, was the epitome of sexuality. She was wearing a red sleeveless shirt, one that exposed more midriff than anything he had ever seen, showing off her tight, toned stomach and lithe waist. It reminded him of a sports bra because it stopped just below her breasts. Underneath that she was wearing a mesh-net shirt. Her shorts stopped a little above mid thigh and were extremely tight on her, allowing Naruto to see her delicious and perfectly tight and round ass. Both shirt and shorts were in crimson red coloring. She was wearing a pair of fingerless gloves white gloves, shin guards, red high-heeled shinobi sandals and a white vest similar to a chunin flak jacket but with only two pockets in front. Hers was left unzipped, allowing Naruto to see the fabric of her shirt strain against her bust.

"**Well?"** Akane grinned as she spun around, she already knew what he thought but it was still fun to play along. **"What do you think?"**

"It looks..." Naruto shook his head and tried his best to regain his bearings. "Honestly, I think many men are going to die thanks to that outfit."

"**Oh?"** Akane smiled at him and urged him to continue.

"The few men that don't die via nose-bleed are going to die by my hand simply for seeing you in that," he finished, grinning as he pulled her to him. Akane's expression matched his and soon the two were making out without each other, complete with full tongue on tongue action. They were only interrupted by a squeak.

Both Naruto and Akane turned to the source to see Tenten, a massive blush on her face as she tried to cover up with her hands. The two demons noted with amusement that she would still peak through to look at them, "C-could you two please not do that!"

"**Why?"** asked Akane, walking up to the girls face and leaning in until they were nose to nose, **"do you wanna join us? Well? If you ask nicely I may consider letting you... share the experience."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"That was cruel what you did to poor Tenten back there," Naruto commented as they left the store, another Naruto behind them carrying shopping bags.<p>

"**What?"** Akane smiled, humming a small tune. **"I think it did her some good. She struck me as the time who spends all her time training. You know, too much time being one of the guys, and absolutely no time being a woman. This will help."**

"And how does pulling the poor girl into a full on lip lock help?" asked Naruto amused. "Don't get me wrong, it was pretty hot seeing you suck face with another chick, but I'm not sure how it helps."

Akane placed a finger on her chin and looked thoughtful, **"well, maybe it will help her come out of the closet."**

"Right," Naruto snorted, "well, if she does turn out to play for the same team, she'll be hard pressed to find a girl that can top your kiss." Akane didn't comment, merely content to grin like a, well, like a fox.

Halfway through their journey home an ANBU wearing a cat mask appeared in front of them from within a swirl of leaves. "Uzumaki-san," the voice said, sounding distinctly male, "Hokage-Sama has requested your presence."

"Really?" asked Naruto, he looked over at Akane who shrugged, "tell Ojisan we'll be there as soon as we drop off our clothes." He didn't give the ANBU a chance to speak as he wrapped an arm around Akane and he, his mate, and his clone all disappeared in their own swirl of leaves, shocking the ANBU.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi stared out of the window as he puffed on his pipe, blowing out smoke rings as he found himself deep in thought. He had just received a report yesterday on the reports for the academy graduates, giving him the ranking for all those that had passed. Most of the report was exactly how he expected it to be.<p>

One persons was not.

Naruto Uzumaki, the boy had been the dead-last in the academy for the past six years, failed twice and remained on the bottom rung, just barely passing after that. This same Naruto Uzumaki also just blew the entire record for the genin exams out of the water, a perfect score. So perfect in fact that there were two people whose records matched his. Itachi Uchiha, and Minato Namikaze.

Now Sarutobi was not stupid, he may not be as spry as he once was, and he couldn't deny that he was blinded to certain things thanks to old age and other facets of life. But he was still the Professor, the Kami No Shinobi (God of Shinobi) and one of the smartest ninja in Konoha. When he saw the report of Naruto's perfect score he knew what was going on. Naruto had played them, all of them. It was like he had set up one big massive prank within all the smaller ones that he had done. All of those pranks that Sarutobi had never been able to uncover, all of those break-ins at the ANBU HQ and the compounds of some of Konoha's most powerful clans, all of it had been Naruto's doing.

But for what purpose? And why? Sarutobi had theories to these answers, but he wanted them confirmed. He had sent Tenzo out ten minutes ago to fetch Naruto, the man had returned in five and had given him some interesting news.

Just then the door slammed open and a familiar if somewhat deeper voice called out, "hey, Ojisan, you called." Sarutobi got a good look at Naruto and the companion Tenzo had mentioned. Even though he had received a report the boys physical changes were surprising, he was a dead ringer for his father, were it not for the whisker marks Sarutobi might actually believe the boy was Minato.

The girl on the other hand was a beauty, with a body that was so perfect that when you combined with her choice of clothes would make many people think sexy and deadly. With long crimson hair that spilled across her shoulder blades down to her waist, two bangs framing a perfect face and deep red eyes that were even more exotic than those of Kurenai Yuuhi, it was a wonder the old Hokage didn't die of a nose bleed.

He let none of his varying emotions play on his face as he smiled at the young man, "ah, Naruto-kun. Come in and take a seat," he gestured to a chair before eying the girl, an act which did not go unnoticed by either of them.

"It's ok Ojisan, she's with me," Naruto said, "and we don't keep secrets from each other."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at the curious statement, especially since he had no clue who she was. "Than, your friend is welcome to take a seat two," he said, sensing there was a connection between the two that may provide the answers he sought. At the very least he could learn of this girl, whom he had never seen in Konoha before.

He watched in some form of amusement and some surprise as the red head ignored his gesture for the other chair in front of his desk, instead opting to sit in Naruto's lap. Even more shocking was the way the blond automatically wrapped his arms securely around her waist. It wasn't just that he had done it that was surprising, but the familiarity in which the act was done. As a shinobi, ninja were always supposed to look underneath the underneath, as the old adage went. Seeing how they acted showed Sarutobi that this act was done with regularity. Curious.

"I suppose I should start by introducing my friend," Naruto said, "Akane-chan, this is Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage and leader of the village, but I just called him Ojisan. Ojisan, this is Akane, my mate."

"Your what?"

My mate," Naruto repeated, "as in girlfriend, wife, lover, what ever you want to call her. Personally, I just call her my vixen."

"**You always know how to say the sweetest things, Naru-kun,"** Akane cooed and Sarutobi, along with the ANBU hiding in the room shivered at the tone, a sound that was so sensual and laden with sexual overtones it should be illegal.

"Yes, well," Sarutobi coughed to get back on track, "its nice to meet you Akane-san. However, I am curious, I have never seen you in the village before. How is it that you know Naruto-kun?"

"**Oh, I've been around,"** Akane replied airily, **"you probably just never noticed."**

"I see," Sarutobi frowned, "and may I ask when you two met?"

"It must have been about, oh, seven years ago I think," Naruto replied, tapping his chin in thought.

"Seven," Sarutobi muttered as he tried to remember when these two could have met seven years ago. He couldn't honestly think of anytime they could have met. In fact the only incident he even remembered with Naruto was...

"Maybe you should send out the two ABNU hiding in the corner and the one on the window sill out of the room," Naruto suggested at seeing the old mans eyes widen.

Sarutobi and all the three ANBU in the room were all shocked, only one thought was going through their head at that moment. _How did he know where the ANBU/we were hiding?_

In the end it did not matter, the Hokage did not want any possible information leaks and he felt that what was about to be said in here would be extremely important. He raised a hand and the three ANBU appeared as if out of thin air. One by one they walked out of the door and when the last one left, Sarutobi channeled some chakra into a seal on his desk. "There, now we can talk in private," he said.

"Hold on just a minute Ojisan," Naruto stood up, much to Akane's whining protest. He just chuckled at her, causing the red head to stick her tongue out at him. The interaction between the two of them would have been amusing to Sarutobi if wasn't already on alert. He watched as Naruto made his way to his side of the desk and reached under it, ripping off a seal. A listening device seal.

"There," Naruto burnt the seal, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the seal spontaneously combusted because Sarutobi had not seen Naruto use a jutsu of any kind. "Now we can talk in private," the blond sat back down and Akane was quick to reclaim her spot.

"How did you find that seal?" asked Sarutobi, even as he cursed for having not found that seal before. He had a good feeling about who it belonged to, and that meant this person had been spying on him for Kami-only-knew how long.

"I'm just awesome like that," Naruto replied, causing Sarutobi to sweat drop and Akane to giggle. "Anyways, that's not really what you want to talk about is it?"

"No," Sarutobi said, trying to get over the fact that this Naruto was, while similar in disposition to the one he had always known, also fundamentally different. The Sandaime could already discern from his eyes that the blond before him was intelligent, the way he sat spoke of confidence and a trace of arrogance, he was much different than what Sarutobi was used to.

Turning to Naruto's companion the Sandaime studied the beauty before him, taking in her red eyes and mischievous smile. After a few seconds of thorough observation he asked, "your the Kyuubi, aren't you?"

"**Wow, you were right Naru-kun,"** Akane said as she turned her grin to her mate, **"he is pretty smart."**

"I told you he'd figure it out if we gave him subtle hints," Naruto said.

"**Well, he didn't get any of the other 'subtle' hints you gave him and the rest of the villagers these past seven years."**

"That's because I didn't give any."

"Ahem," Sarutobi coughed into his hand, bringing the two other occupants attention to his. "While I find all of this somewhat...amusing, perhaps you would be willing to shed light on this situation, like how your out of the seal." He didn't even bother to make a passing attempt at denying that the Kyuubi had been sealed, if this woman, odd as it might seem, really was the Kyuubi, than Naruto already knew everything.

He was strangely calm as Naruto and Kyuubi told him of the events that had transpired; Honeslty, he felt that he should be shaking in his boots at being in the presence of the being, woman, that had nearly destroyed Konoha, yet he felt nothing but an odd detachment as he listened to the pair. They told him about their meeting in his mindscape, to how Akane as she was known, began to train him. The persona they had crafted to make Naruto seem like a harmless prankster, while at the same time training him in ninja aspects like stealth, traps, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, and losing a tail. It truly amazed Sarutobi to realize just how utterly fooled he and everyone else in Konoha had been.

There were a few things Naruto and Akane kept to themselves, things they didn't feel he needed to know like their more tender moments, their time in Kiri and the blonds Arashi persona. However, everything else was for the most part laid bare. They told him about Naruto's first kill, how after that he had continued going on bandit raids and had even faced a few missing-nin. Sarutobi had been worried when he had heard the young boy had already killed, but both Naruto and Akane had told him not to and that the red head had helped him through it. Through out the entire conversation Sarutobi felt that the situation he was in had a surreal quality to it. Mostly because he was apparently having an intelligent conversation with a being who had been considered a demon of mass hate and malevolence.

Of course that was only if everything they were telling him were lies.

Bu the time the pair had finished Hiruzen had gone through three packs of tobacco and could still feel a head ache coming. He leaned back in his seat and rubbed his forehead, "so let me get this straight. You," he looked at Akane, "are a two thousand year old demon who was actually created by the fox god Inari to serve Kami with a task she had given you and the other Bijuu. After which she made you the guardian of Hi No Kuni and you served as its protector since then. You were even here at the founding of Konoha and were the one who granted Hasharima Senju permission to make this village. Is that about right?"

"**Pretty much,"** Akane said, **"there were a lot of little things that happened in between but those were the main points. Also, I wasn't exactly created. Like you, I was born. I had been sent to serve Inari-Sama as I was a member of the Kitsune clan, during that time I became his second in command and when a threat appeared on earth, Inari-Sama gave me my nine tails and I along with the eight other Bijuu who were chosen as Avatars of our gods were sent down to earth to complete our task. Other than that, you got the gist of it."**

"May I ask what task you and the other Bijuu had been sent here to complete?"

"**Certainly,"** Akane started, **"our task was to defeat a being who I guess you could call the first Bijuu."** Interested, Sarutobi leaned forward as the red head began her tale, **"This being was actually the combined creation of both Yami-Sama and Kami-Sama, a being whose body was actually made from the their power. They had been working on creating a being whom they could send down to watch over Kami-Sama's creations."**

"Aren't Yami and Kami gods of opposites?" asked Sarutobi.

"**Goddesses,"** Akane corrected, **"Yami-Sama and Kami-Sama are both female, sisters as well, but you are right about them being opposites. Kami-Sama is a being of light and creation, while Yami-Sama is darkness and death."**

"I thought the Shinigami was the god of death."

"**Please,"** Akane snorted, **"the Shinigami is merely an avatar of Yami-Sama, it is his job to ferry the souls of the departed to the next plane of existence, heaven or hell, depending on what kind of person you were in life. Despite being called a Death God by you humans he is actually no such thing."**

"**Now where was I? Oh yes! So the two goddess sisters had created this being, who was supposed to be a perfect blend of light and dark, life and death, and sent it to watch over earth. For a while the being did as told, it watched over Kami's creations, helping them, guiding them. However, something happened. You see, Light and Dark were never actually made to blend, they are polar opposites and therefore dangerous when combined."** Neither she nor Naruto mentioned Naruto's ability to use the powers of both light and dark, since they still didn't even know how he could use them.

"What happened?" asked Sarutobi, it was impossible for the old man not to be interested in the story. What Akane was telling him was a piece of history that had been long since lost to the sands of time, something only known to her and a few others.

"**The being went insane, it's power corrupted it, and in the end it became a monster. The first demon, if you will,"** Akane said. **"In fact, the term demon was first coined from this being due to how much death and destruction it had caused."**

"And what was this being?"

**"It was called Yamata No Orochi,"** Akane said, **"an eight headed, eight tailed Hydra, whose power actually dwarfed my own."**

"A being more powerful than you?" asked Sarutobi, feeling a shudder run through him at the thought of a creature more powerful than the one before him.

Akane grinned at him, as if she sensed his unease. **"In a manner of speaking, its reserves were actually larger than mine. However my power is different from others."**

"How so?"

"**I draw my power from nature," **Akane said, **"I draw my power from the world itself, and therefore, as long as nature exists my power is technically unlimited. But we are getting off topic."**

"**In the end, myself and the other Bijuu clashed with the Yamata No Orochi for several hundred years. And we almost lost, all of the other Bijuu were taken out of the fight early and if it weren't for my ability to draw power from the earth I would have lost to. Then, something none of us could have anticipated happened."**

"**One man, one human man, defeated the Yamata No Orochi after I had weakened it. He had done this, by sealing the creature away into the very core of this world, where even now it resides, sleeping."**

"Who was the man who sealed the Yamata No Orochi?"

"**His name was Kenshi Komomura," **Akane said, **"However, you would know him as the Rikudou Sennin."**

"The man who gave us ninjutsu?" asked Sarutobi.

"**Indeed."**

Sarutobi leaned back in his seat and thoughtfully tapped his pipe against the desk. He had a feeling there was more than they were telling him, but at the moment he felt that the information he received was enough. "Tell me," there was just one more thing he had to know, "if you are the guardian of Hi No Kuni and Konoha, why did you attack us?"

"**I didn't,"** Akane sighed, sensing her depression Naruto pulled her closer against him. She smiled as she leaned back in his arms, kissing him on the cheek before resting her head against his. Sarutobi waited patiently, figuring she would tell him when she was ready. **"As I told Naru-kun once, every decade or so I travel out of my home and see how Hi No Kuni is doing. I had been in Konoha for six months before my...attack."** A frown marred her face as she began to speak, **"the thing is, I don't remember attacking Konoha at all. One minute I was in my hotel room, and had just gotten ready for bed, then I heard a voice. I turned around and the last thing I saw were three glowing red eyes, and then nothing. Afterwords I woke up, sealed inside Naru-kun."**

"It sounds like you were being controlled," Sarutobi murmured thoughtfully, truth was that thought terrified him. Anyone who could control the Kyuubi, Akane, was dangerous.

"**It's possible,"** Akane admitted slowly, not really liking that she just admitted someone else could control her actions. **"Its very rare, but there are some demons who have the ability to control the minds of others. However, for someone to control me they would have to have power on the same level as the gods themselves." **That particular piece of information would have caused Sarutobi to swallow his own pipe had he still been smoking.

"Someone with the power of a god?"

"**Essentially," **Akane said, **"you have to understand that of the nine, I am the most powerful Bijuu created, only the gods are above my level of power. So for someone to be capable of controlling me, especially to such a degree that my mind has no conscious thoughts, has to have powers equal to that of a god."**

"Do you know anyone who could have such power?"

Akane shook her head, **"that's the thing. No one should have that much power, even the Yamata No Orochi didn't have that much power. I can't think of anyone, or anything, that should have the kind of strength to control me."**

"I see," Sarutobi closed his eyes as he let his thoughts move onto to other matters. Like what they should do now, "well, there is nothing we can do about your attack, or whoever controlled you. However, I would like to ask what you plan to do now?"

"**I go where ever Naru-kun goes,"** Akane said, she really didn't care what they did so long as he was with her.

"I was actually hoping you could let her sign on as a shinobi," Naruto said, getting both Sarutobi and Akane's attention. "As a bijuu you know she's powerful, she also knows me better than anyone else, having trained me after all. We would make a good team."

Sarutobi let that thought enter his mind as he examined it, searching for any angles he could see that could prove to be its undoing. The only real problem he could see with letting Akane become a shinobi was what would happen should people find out who she was. However, the benefits of having the most powerful demon in existence as a member of Konoha's military far outweighed any potential downside. "It is a good idea," he said at last, "if you are the guardian of Hi No Kuni it would be easier for you to do your job."

"**If I'm going to be a shinobi under you than there are several stipulations I want added,"** Akane interrupted.

"Name them," said Sarutobi.

"**First and foremost, I will only work on a team with Naru-kun."**

"Easily accomplished," he even had someone already in mind to be there sensei. It may take some convincing, and Kakashi wouldn't like that his request for Naruto was denied. But this would benefit Konoha in the long run.

"**Second, I want Sennin level travel rights through Hi No Kuni and its allied nations."**

"That will be a little difficult to procure," Sarutobi said, but at seeing her look added, "I can still get you your travel rights, but it will take some time."

"**That's fine, we don't need them right away,"** Akane said. **"Finally, when Naru-kun reaches jonin, we would like for you to make a village announcement on his heritage."**

Sarutobi coughed several times in surprise, "yo-you know?"

"We both know Ojisan," Naruto said, speaking up for the first time since he had greeted the Sandaime. "I've known since I was eight."

Naruto, what I did was..."

"I'm not mad," Naruto interrupted, "given how you thought I was I can understand your reluctance to tell me. That Naruto would have shouted his heritage to the whole world, consequences be damned. And I know the problems that knowledge of my heritage could cause, Akane informed me about the consequences that would happen should Iwa learn who my parents were."

"I am pleased to see your taking everything so well," Sarutobi said, "you really are more mature than most people give you credit for."

"Of course," Naruto grinned, "most people don't look past the surface of what they see, or only end up seeing what they want to see."

"True," Sarutobi nodded. He turned back to Akane, "are there any other stipulations towards your agreement to join the village?"

"**No,"** Akane shook her head, **"those are it."**

"Very well, I will get to work on all of the things you have requested." Sarutobi leafed through several sheets before grabbing one specific one and writing on it. He handed it to Akane, "that is simply a form for you to fill out, give it to me when you finish and than make sure you and Naruto get your shinobi's license."

"Got it," Naruto said as Akane grabbed the slip of paper and read it over. "Is there anything else you need from us, Ojisan?"

"No, Naruto-kun, I think that's all for now," there was still more he wanted to ask but honestly, he had more than enough information that it would take time for the Sandaime to process it all.

"In that case we'll be going, c'mon Akane-chan," Naruto and Akane stood up, nodded and gave a cheeky wave respectively, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves, leaving the Sandaime to ponder all that he had learned.

* * *

><p><strong>So here you have, big ass lemon, shopping for clothes, Akane is getting back in form with her Kitsune ways now that she's free, I've just given you MY story for the history of the Bijuu and you finally know why I called my story Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf. Hope you all enjoyed, there is more on the way!<strong>

**A/N: YES! I KNOW I GAVE NARUTO TAILS AND EARS! I do NOT want to hear any flames on my decision to do this, I'm going for a more Inuyasha Hanyou affect with this story, therefore he has tails and ears. Also, the story is called TEN TAILED WOLF for a reason, did you think he wouldn't gain some animal appendages with a name like that? So, if you dislike the ears and tails so much that you can't bother to read anymore, than just stop reading, I don't want to hear how I've ruined MY story by doing this, or how much I suck, or how much you hate my guts. I've heard it all before. Please remember, I am writing this for my own benefit, and I am Posting this for your benefit, because I feel like sharing something that may be entertaining to you, the readers. Now, if you want me not to add tails and ears to my character, than you can pay me money for actually taking the time to write and than we'll talk.**

**Sorry about that, I just had to get that out of the way before people started going mad. I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I will respect your decision if you don't want to read anymore.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: So I've read some reviews of all of my stories, and some of the reviews for other peoples stories and a few of them talked about how people are very unoiginal with their stories. I would like to defend myself and other authors by asking a question: Aren't all stories unoriginal? Just about every story you can think of now a days have no originality. In fact, I'm positive that Naruto is an unoriginal story, Kishimoto likely used elements of other anime/mangas or books to make it. And we already know hes using the Bijuu from Japanese Mythology. Stories aren't about how original they are anymore, its about taking an already existing idea and making it your own.**

**Besides, this is fanfction, we're already being unoriginal by writing about an already existing manga/anime. Aka, Naruto.**

**Chapter 16: Two of a Kind**

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Anko Mitirashi walked down the streets of Konoha, twirling a kunai in one hand and holding a stick of dango that she was munching on with the other. There was a rather large grin on her face, and everyone who knew her, which was everyone in Konoha given her reputation, that saw the grin was sent scurrying for cover. Most wondered who the poor bastard that she had just finished torturing was.<p>

Fortunately for said poor bastard, an everyone else, Anko wasn't interested in torturing others at the moment as she was on her way to an important meeting. She had just been called by the Hokage via Tenzo, the cat masked ANBU who worked as the Hokage's personal bodyguard. She wasn't sure what to expect, but the Hokage had never actually called in for anything unless it was of the utmost importance.

_Maybe he's planning on giving me an S rank mission,_ it was a nice thought, she hadn't gone on too many of those. Most S ranks were reserved for the ANBU due to how dangerous they were, the only two regular jonin who ever took S rank missions now a days were Kakashi Hatake and Maito Gai, well, Gai had before he got his genin squad. What ever the case she hoped his reasons for calling her would be exciting.

She marched up a set of stairs in the Hokage Mansion, down a corridor and made her way into a small reception area. Anko walked up to the secretary who soon noticed her, "ah, Mitrashi-san, Hokage-Sama is expecting you. Go right in."

"Thanks!" Anko said cheerfully, she had always liked this girl, the secretary was one of the few people who didn't treat her like she had the plague. Marching up to the doors a large grin worked its way onto her face before she made an entrance that only her and one other person could possibly pull off. Kicking the door in Anko stalked further into the room, stopped in front of the Hokage's desk and struck a dramatic pose; hands on her hips, head held high and a dango stick in her mouth. "You called Hokage-Sama?"

Sarutobi sighed, and for just a moment he wondered if he was making the right decision here. "Yes," he said, right choice for the job or not, she was the only one he could trust with this mission. "I have an important, long term mission for you. It's vital to the continued survival of Konoha and your the only person I can trust."

Anko's eyes widened before her grin was going full force, so powerful and bright was this grin that Maito Gai would be blinded by its majesty and youth. Finally, she was getting the recognition she deserved. The Hokage had deemed to give her a mission that was 'vital to the continued survival of Konoha' which sounded pretty damn important. She could see it all now, her completing this mission and saving the village, than she would get free dango for life. "I accept!" she shouted.

"You don't even know what the mission is," Sarutobi stated, somewhat amused by the Tokubetsu Jonin's antics. The woman was as impulsive as Naruto was, or at least as impulsive as the Naruto Konoha had come to know. It would be interesting to see how she dealt with them.

"Doesn't matter, I said I'll take it so that means I'll take it," Anko said dismissively. She wasn't really paying attention to the old man, already visualizing being given a lifetime supply of free Dango and having a statue of her made in the Village Marketing district. Sarutobi actuall sweat dropped at seeing his ninja with stars in her eyes and drool pooring out of her mouth by the bucket loads.

"Very well," Sarutobi grabbed a scroll, one he had just recently made and tossed it to her. Anko caught the scroll and unrolled it, her eyes began to scan the contents.

It was almost amusing to watch the changes that went across the woman's face. The Happy grin she had on when first arriving left after reading the first line, the further she went down the more her face changed. At first it paled, and an expression of horror crossed her face. Afterwords it went blank, like there was nothing going on in her head at the time and her brain decided to take a vacation. Finally it settled on red, a sign that she was angry. The tic marks that were popping up on her forehead added to the expression.

"WHAT KIND OF MISSION IS THIS!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"<strong>Is something wrong, Naru-kun?"<strong> asked Akane as Naruto's head turned to look out into nothing. His ears wiggled slightly on his head, as if he were hearing something, and Akane had to force herself not reach out and pet them.

"No," he said at last, "just thought I heard something is all." Naruto turned back to look at her, "so what are we doing first?"

"**First, we need to see what your control is like,"** Akane said, **"seeing as how your no longer using chakra, but youki, which is many times stronger than chakra, your control is likely shot. Adding onto that, you now have Ten Tails worth of youki, meaning your control is going to be hell until we can fix it."** She paused to let that information sink in. **"Now I want you to use a jutsu, I don't care which, I just need to see how your control is so I know which exercise to start you on."**

"Got it," Naruto began to run through a gauntlet of hand seals, ending on the dragon seal. His cheeks swelled with air and he soon released it in a burst of wind. At least, that's what would have normally happened. Instead of creating a burst of wind with enough power to rip several trees up from their roots, a large shock wave emitted from his mouth and Naruto was blown back several meters. He smacked into the ground harshly and rolled out of the training field, only coming to a stop when he was a good three meters out of the training ground.

"Guh," Naruto groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Blinking he looked around and shook his head to try and get the blurriness out of his vision. Standing up Naruto made his way back over to Akane who was on the ground, holding her gut and laughing at him. Naruto growled angrily as he stomped up to her, "stop laughing! Its not funny!"

"**Yes it... yes it is... hahaha! It is to...f-funny,"** Akane guffawed, not even bothering to stop laughing as she felt her lungs beginning to burn from a lack of oxygen. Another growl issued itself from Naruto's throat and he bounced, jumping on top of the red haired vixen in an effort to pin her down. All of his efforts were in vain however, as Akane's legs came around and wrapped and she bent her legs over his body so she could place her heels on his chest, then she pushed, taking him down and bringing herself up so that she was sitting on him. **"You'll have to do better than that, Naru-kun,"** she said, leaning down until their noses were touching.

Naruto leaned in the rest of the way, bringing his lips to hers. His arms moved and secured themselves around her waist, pulling her closer until their bodies were flush against each other. He enjoyed the feel of Akane's chest pressing against his, and the way her legs sensually glided across his own. Opening his mouth he invited Akane in and closed it when her tongue penetrated him orally. He listened to her moan as he sucked on her tongue and rolled them over so that he was once again on top. It was a disappointed to them both when he ended the kiss, "we should probably get back to training."

"**Yeah..."** Akane sighed, she knew they should be training, but it was just so hard to resist jumping her mate. It was especially difficult when she was put into a situation like now.

Naruto moved off of her and stood up, holding a hand out to help her up. She accepted it and the whiskered blond pulled her up, "so did you get all of the info on my control that you need? Because I really don't want to have to go through that again."

Akane giggled **"Don't worry I've got all I need." **A thoughtful look crossed her face as she thought of the best way to put what she wanted to say into words. **"I was right when I said your control is shot, when you used that jutsu, it should have compressed in your throat and then been pushed out in a way that created a powerful gust of wind. Instead, what happened was that your youki couldn't compress itself and released it in a shock wave that backfired on you. This means that your control is about as bad as it could possibly get, in other words, we need to start from scratch to bring it back up."**

"Great," Naruto sighed, it totally sucked that his control was pretty much gone. One of the many things Akane had him do during the last seven years was work on his chakra control, and now all of that work has gone to waist.

"**It's not so bad,"** Akane chided him, placing a hand on his cheek. **"You still have the kage bunshin no Jutsu, and that doesn't actually require control, just a crap load of power, which you now have in spades. Now, the exercise I'm going to have you do is a demon exercise that I created in order to control my own youki. Its a step control exercise, basically, what you have to do is take a rock, a decent sized one, and float it over the palm of your hand."** Akane picked up a small pebble and floated it over her palm, **"this is the first step. The steps getting progressively harder and harder as you go. For instance, the second step is to rotate the rock in a horizontal spin, the third is to add a vertical spin. When that is complete you'll use rocks that get smaller and smaller until you can float a pebble. Afterwords, we'll add a rock to your other hand so that your doing two at a time, then we'll begin adding rocks to your fingers. The exercise is completed when you can float and spin twelve pebbles on your hands."**

After having listened to her intently Naruto had only one thing to say, "well shit."

"**Such an eloquent way of putting it,"** Akane smirked, **"now make your Kage Bunshin and get them started on this exercise. We have some things the two of us need to do."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"H-Hokage-Sama, you can't be serious! This is a joke, right?" when Anko saw the look on Sarutobi's face her own began to pale, "right?"<p>

"No, Anko-san, I am not joking," Sarutobi said. "I want you to be the jonin for one Naruto Uzumaki and a new graduate who I personally passed." He partly wondered if it would be beneficial to tell Anko about the other 'student' actually being the Kyuubi but had decided against it. This kind of information wasn't something that could get out without serious repercussions, and while he trusted Anko with his life he knew that the less people who knew about Akane's true origins the better.

"B-but, why do I have to train a couple of brats?" asked Anko. She knew about who he wanted her to train, she had seen him around the village, usually with a group of ANBU on his tail. Hell, she would even admit that she enjoyed his antics and some of the pranks he had played around the village. The purple haired Tokubetsu jonin even felt a certain amount of kinship with Naruto because of how he was treated. But she had no interest in training the brat, or any brat.

"Are you telling me that you are refusing a mission I am personally giving?" asked Sarutobi. "A mission that you just said you would take? Didn't you tell me you would take this mission?"

"N-no - I mean...yes?" Anko stuttered, her eyes wide as the wily Hokage played her own words against her. "But I have no desire to train some punk, and you know the council will never accept this." The civilian council had never liked Anko, and had made it a point to try and make her life hard by speaking with the owners of shops and several of Konoha's citizens into treating her like crap. It wasn't until she began to fight back, cutting people up and sicking her snakes on them, that the citizenry stopped messing with her.

"The council has no say in what I do with "my" shinobi," he emphasized my, reminding Anko that he was the Hokage. The council could make things difficult for him, scheduling meetings that had no real purpose, controlling the shops and stores to not allow Naruto access, and they had even gone so far as to leak the boys status as the Kyuubi's container in the hopes it would incite hatred against the boy to keep him weak (though the man who had spread the rumor was now dead). However, while they could do all of that, Sarutobi was still Hokage, and the village of Konoha was still a military village where he was the dictator.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama," Anko said, more for lack of wanting to say something, then actually having anything to say.

"So will you accept my mission?"

Anko sighed and her shoulders slumped, "yeah, I'll train the brats."

Sarutobi chuckled, "now don't be like that. I'll think you'll enjoy teaching these two."

"Why are you only giving me two people, Hokage-Sama?" asked Anko, suddenly curious about that. "I mean, genin squads always consist of three genin and their jonin-sensei. I know that the Uzumaki gaki is special and all, but I don't see why your doing this."

"That would be because of Akane, the girl I tested," Sarutobi said, as if Akane needed a test, being the Kyuubi she was more powerful than he ever would be. "She was able to prove herself to be quite talented and I decided it would be beneficial if she graduated. The fact that she seems to be friends with Naruto-kun is a bonus. Also, it seems little Naruto-kun is not all that he seems," reaching into his desk the old Hokage pulled out a file and handed it over to a curious Anko. "Or it would be more accurate to say that, Naruto-kun is much more than he seems."

Anko opened the file and began scanning over the contents, she knew immediately what it was. The genin scores for Naruto Uzumaki, and what she saw shocked her. "This can't be right," she said, "there's no way, everyone knows the gaki is the worst in his class. How is it that he has the highest score to have come out of the academy in over a two decades?"

"As I said, he is much more than he seems," Sarutobi said. "In fact, I am not even sure just how strong he is. Iruka-kun told me that Naruto blew over the exam like he wasn't even trying, and while the academy exam is not quite as difficult as it was during war time status, it is still impressive. Naruto-kun may easily be the strongest genin to ever come out of the academy." In fact, Sarutobi was sure that the boy was far more powerful than any of the ninja under his command. He had felt the aura of power that was wrapped around the blond like a cloak when they had met just yesterday.

"What about this other girl? Akane?" asked Anko.

"There is not much on her," Sarutobi admitted, "we have not even been able to find out her surname. However, she came to Konoha a little over a year ago and apparently befriended Naruto-kun in that time. Though they managed to keep it a secret. I did learn that her father was a jonin from Kiri before he had been killed sometime during the start of the Kiri Civil War. How she made it here to Hi No Kuni on her own is anyone's guess, but he did teach her things before he died, and I suspect that she has been teaching Naruto-kun."

"So she's good?" Anko asked.

"Very."

"Well, maybe this will be a little more interesting than I first thought," Anko admitted. "But they still need to pass my test."

"Of course," Sarutobi smirked, "though I doubt you'll have to worry about that."

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>_

* * *

><p>Naruto Uzumaki spent the week before they received their jonin sensei training with Akane in his chakra control. Thanks to his new Bijuu level reserves, a name he had jokingly called them even though it was now true, the young blond was able to make upwards of ten thousand clones easily and not even feel winded. This had made it possible for him to to complete the chakra control exercises that Akane made his clones work on very quickly.<p>

Interested in testing out the capabilities of his new body Naruto had tested his physical prowess with a series of challenging exercises. He had discovered that every aspect of his body had been enhanced to levels that would make any jonin worth their salt wet themselves. His speed, physical strength, reflexes and reaction times, dexterity, constitution and hand-to-eye coordination were all off the charts. Akane had told him that because he was a Hanyou his body was now as close to physically perfect as it could get. In other words, he was at the physical peak of his ability and unlikely to gain anymore strength. Not that he needed anymore strength.

Likewise Naruto had tested out his enhanced senses, having noticed they had taken a rather sharp rise in power. Everything he looked at was now crystal clear, his eyesight was better than any humans could ever hope to be. He could see everything for up to five miles as clear as day. His sense of smell was also very good, so good in fact that Naruto had been forced to plug his nose for the first few days he began testing it. Naruto's sense of hearing was now through the roof, Akane told him that he could probably hear even better than the Inuzuka Nin-dogs. Likewise, taste and touch were also sharper than ever before. This was a bit annoying because some of his food now tasted so strongly that he had trouble eating it, though he loved his enhanced sense of touch for obvious reasons.

Because his senses and physical ability were so strong and at the moment he lacked proper control over them, Naruto had created a seal on the inside of his forehead protector to seal up his abilities and bring it down to manageable levels. At least until he could properly control them.

After all of the training Naruto had done it was nearing the end of the week. Next Monday was the day they would get assigned their jonin sensei. _I wonder who Ojisan picked for us?_ The blond wondered as he ran a hand over Akane's sweaty torso and hips. They had just got finished making love, an act the two took great pleasure in doing every night. Akane had situated herself on top of him this time, laying on her side and sensually spread out on him with her legs tangled in his. They weren't using the blanket, Naruto had instead wrapped his tails around them to cover the two of them up.

Shrugging off any thoughts on jonin sensei's and his graduation for later Naruto went to sleep as well.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was the day of graduation and all of the soon-to-be-genin were chattering away excitedly about their careers. Some were talking about how exciting it was that they were now ninja, others were boasting about how awesome they were going to be, and still others attempting to act cool so they didn't ruin their "I'm a complete BAMF (Bad Ass Mother Fucker) image. The clan heirs were no different than the civilians in this case; Kiba was boasting to anyone who listened that he would become a jonin in less than a year, Ino was chatting with some girls about the particulars of the new Naruto fan club, Shino was sitting and observing the class, Shikimaru was sleeping, Choji was eating, Sasuke was brooding and Hinata was doing her turtle imitation. It was a day of promise for these twenty-seven academy graduates, a day that they would remember for all time as the day they became adults.<p>

This was the scene that Naruto walked into. The moment he stepped through the door and walked in, with Akane on his arm all conversation seemed to grind to a screeching halt. Even Shikimaru had woken up to look at them and mutter a quick "troublesome" before going back to sleep. As they walked further in Naruto almost chuckled at seeing the jealous looks on the faces of the girls who had decided he had become their newest obsession. And he actually growled at one of the kids he saw drooling over his Akane, blasting the poor boy with so much killing intent he shit himself and passed out. The two were about to make their way to a seat in the back left-hand corner when a head of pink hair moved in their way.

"Uh...can I help you Haruno?" asked Naruto curiously, tilting his head. He didn't really like this girl, aside from the fact that she would often abuse his poor Chishio Bunshin, she was also a very loud and obnoxious fangirl.

However, Sakura wasn't even looking at him, her eyes were solely focused on the beauty in front of her. She just knew this girl was after her Sasuke-kun. Why else would someone so beautiful be here? The poor girl completely ignored the fact that Akane was on Naruto's arm. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded to know.

Akane gave her a lazy look, **"who I am is none of your damn business pinky. All you need to know is that I'm here for my genin emplacement."** She had never liked this girl, Sakura Haruno was the rabid fan girl type who spent more time dieting, washing their hair and stalking the supposed love of their life than training. They believed that their "knight in brooding armor" would rescue them if they were ever in trouble. It was girls like these that were always the first to die in the field.

The two demonic genin made to quickly move past Sakura, but the girl would have none of it. "DON'T LIE TO ME! I KNOW YOUR AFTER MY SASUKE-KUN!" the pink haired howler monkey made to grab Akane's shoulder. However, before she could do anything Akane turned and gave her forehead a finger flick. Sakura was sent flying backwards and smacked into the wall, cracking it. Everyone stared from Sakura to Akane in shock. Said girl just looked at the "Naruto fan club" and gave them a fanged grin, causing many to pale. A few of them had been plotting ways to get rid of the pretty new girl so they could get Naruto-kun, but if she could do that than they really didn't want to piss her off.

"Hey Naruto! Whose the babe?" asked Kiba, shouting from the back row. The blond genin looked up at Kiba to see him drooling at his mate, he was tempted to blast the kid with killing intent but decided not to. Kiba was just naturally a lecher, he guessed it was in his nature, what with being so close to dogs and all. Besides that, if Naruto killed everyone who drooled over his mate, well, there wouldn't be any men left in this world.

"Hmm, I suppose introductions are in order," Naruto murmured. "This is Akane-chan, she's my mate." The reaction to that statement was pretty comical, Choji dropped his bag of potato chips and began choking on the few chips in his mouth, Shino focused his attention on the red head, Kiba looked shocked and jealous, the newly minted fan club looked like they had just been kicked, Hinata became depressed and hid even further in her jacket, Shikimaru didn't even bother waking up to hear the announcement, and Sasuke...

"I demand you teach me how you did that!"

There we go.

Akane looked at Sasuke and snarled at him, making the raven haired boy actually take a step back. **"Do not presume to think that I will teach you just because your an Uchiha, brat! Your just like every other member of your clan, believing that they were kami-Sama's gift to man!" **Akane smirked as Sasuke became more enraged, **"the only good Uchiha is a dead Uchiha, I would shake Itachi's hand if I saw him for helping rid the world of an arrogant stain like your family."**

by this point Sasuke was shaking with apoplectic rage. How dare this bitch say these things! The Uchiha had always been one of the most elite clans of the village, their bloodline was the best! And this whore was insulting his clan? Even worse, she had the gull to say she would like to thank Itachi for killing them!

"You bitch!" Sasuke Uchiha ran straight at Akane, getting ready to put this bitch in her place.

The only problem he ran into, aside from the fact that if he actually got near Akane she would kill him, was Naruto. Said whisker marked blond had appeared right in front of Sasuke and smashed into him with a solid upper cut. From the moment Sasuke received the hit to his jaw he had blacked out. It was probably a good thing for him because the raven haired genin went sailing through the air in an almost lazy arch, right before he smacked down onto one of the desks, breaking it and than falling to the floor.

Naruto ignored the looks he was getting as he turned to Akane and grinned, "I've always wanted to do that." Akane rolled her eyes before grabbing Naruto's hand and pulling him to a desk in the back. Said desk was set against the wall so Naruto could lean against it. Seconds later Akane climbed onto the desk and situated herself between his legs and leaned against him. The two of them proceeded to ignore everyone else as Naruto pulled a little orange book from one of his pouches, wrapped his arms around Akane's waist, set his head on her shoulder, leaning lightly against her so he was nuzzling the red heads cheek and than opened the book and situated it so they could both read.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Well, what do you all think?" within the Hokage's office twelve people stood around a small orb that was showing the newly graduated academy students. The entire crowd had just gotten done watching Sasuke get popped one in the face and knocked out cold.<p>

"The kids got guts," said a man with a cigarette in his mouth. Asuma Sarutobi had brown eyes, short black spiky hair and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up. He also wore a flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals and forehead protector. He also wore the Twelve Ninja Guardians sash around his waist with the kanji for "Fire" (火) marked on it, a bracelet on both of his wrists and bandages on both arms of his outfit. "I don't think I've ever seen a genin deck anyone that hard before."

"I wonder, who's the girl he's with?" Kurenai Yūhi was what many men in Konoha considered a perfect woman. she was a kunoichi with long and black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that were red in colour, with an additional ring in them similar to the legendary doujutsu the Rennigen, albeit less ripples. She was wearing make-up that consisted of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her regular outfit consisted of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over that was a very broad material which resembled bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

"That's Akane-san," Sarutobi said, "she came to the village a few years ago and has apparently been living with Naruto-kun since then."

"If that's true, how come we haven't heard of her?" asked a ninja who wore a very lazy expression. He had on the standard jonin outfit, long sleeve blue shirt with red Uzumaki swirls on the shoulders, blue pants, a green shinobi flak jacket, blue shinobi sandals and a forehead protector that was slanted over his left eye. He was also wearing a pair of gloves with metal plates, and a face mask that covered half of his face. He was very tall and lanky, making him look like a scarecrow, and had tall, gravity defying silver hair.

"That's because she has some basic shinobi training, including very good stealth training," Sarutobi stated. "Her father was a jonin from Kiri, who taught her before being killed at the start of the Civil War in Kiri. I don't know what happened to her mother but after that she started traveling and eventually ended up here. Neither Naruto-kun nor Akane-san will tell me how they met, but Akane-san said that after seeing the way this village treated Naruto-kun they both decided it was best if she stayed in the shadows."

Many of the shinobi inside of the room winced. One did not get to be a jonin by being stupid and so every jonin knew well and good why Naruto was hated, as well as that he was not the fox sealed inside of him and the boy was being hated for no reason. Despite this, none of them had ever felt the need to help when he was in trouble.

"Is that why your letting her graduate without having gone through the academy?" asked Kurenai.

"She and Naruto came to me with a proposal that I felt was too tempting to refuse," Sarutobi said in a voice that made it clear he would not discuss anything else with them. "Now, why don't we continue watching, hmm?"

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Naruto and Akane ignored the way everyone continued to stare at the two of them as they sat on the table and continued to read. <em>"You know, I really think the position on page 34, it has some real potential,"<em> Naruto spoke using the mind link they shared. During the week before the blond had discovered that the reason he and Akane still shared thoughts was because the Shiki Fujin over-seal had been modified to accomdate for her body no longer being sealed inside of him when the red head had been sucked out. Though he was still working on figuring just why she was sucked out in the first place.

"_**It's not bad, but my favorite is page 8 and 11,"**_ Akane said, **_"but 19 is an interesting one as well." _**It might seem odd to some people why these two were reading the book known as Icha Icha Paradise, a porn book filled with lewd images and sex scenes. The two had happened upon it during one of their shopping excursionsin the past week and after reading the first few pages had decided to buy the set for their own recreational purposes. It was while they were reading that a loud whale of "SASUKE-KUN!" brought their attention away from their book.

"YOU!" Sakura screeched as she stomped over to the pair of demonic ninja. She had an angry expression on her face and the kind of righteous fury most fan girls get in their eyes when something happens to the "love of their life". To most people the girl would be rather frightening.

Too Naruto and Akane the girl was about as frightening as grub worm. **"What do you want pinky?"** said Akane, **"can't you see Naru-kun and I are busy reading?"**

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SASUKE-KUN!"

"**You assumed we did anything,"** Akane said, **"perhaps he just likes lying on the floor. It is the proper place for an Uchiha to be anyways."** This statement caused many of the Konoha genin to show surprise, since the Uchiha clan had been one of the elite clans of the village. For someone to insult them as much as Akane was, was unheard of, especially now that they were dead.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO MY SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura shrieked.

"Could you keep it down Haruno?" asked Naruto in an annoyed voice, "we're trying to read here."

The pink haired girl recoiled in shock for a moment, as if just hearing him call her Haruno for the first time. However, her shock was quickly overcome and replaced by anger. "Read! READ! MY SASUKE-KUN UNCONSCIOUS ON THE FLOOR!" Sakura yelled at Naruto before whirling on Akane, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!"

"**First she thinks I'm after the idiot and now she thinks I did something,"** Akane grumbled as she leaned her head back so she could look at Naruto. **"Does this girl have some kind of mental issues?"**

As Sakura bristled at the insulting question Naruto just shrugged, "you know, I've always wondered that myself. I believe she has two, Fangirlism, and Howler Monkey Syndrome."

Akane snapped her fingers and gained a 'eureka' sort of expression on her face, **"That explains it."**

While Naruto and Akane were insulting and making fun of Sakura, many of the students in the class were watching the seen with something akin to shock. By now everyone had more or less realized that Naruto might not be as dumb as they all thought, the fact that he did so well on the exams and beat the crap out of Mizuki Yesterday proved that. But they had all thought that was the end of the surprises Naruto had for them; and now he brought the hottest girl they had ever seen, claimed she was his mate, punched the Uchiha in the face hard enough to send him flying, the fact that he was not defending his 'Sakura-chan' and was in fact helping his mate insult the girl they all thought he liked was just the icing on the cake. In many ways the word shocking didn't begin to describe how many of the students felt.

This was the scene Iruka walked into. He was extremely tired thanks to all the work he had to do the past week, a few nights ago, Mizuki had tried to steal the forbidden scroll of sealing and got caught. That had essentially doubled the amount of paperwork Iruka had to do since he had no assistant to help him. On top of that Naruto's exam had caused a lot of problems. Many on the civilian council had managed to somehow get their hands on his report, hearing that the 'demon' had managed to not only pass but got the highest graduation exam score since Itachi Uchiha and Minato Namikaze had caused an uproar in the council chambers. This had caused Iruka even more problems because the council had pulled him into an impromptu meeting to more or less interrogate him.

And now he was standing here, looking at the scene before him with several tic marks on his head. "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP YOU BRATS!" Sakura, who was really the only one being loud, since everyone else had just decided to watch the prime entertainment that was Naruto and Akane insulting the pink haired girl, scurried to her seat. "Good, now could someone please wake Sasuke up, he shouldn't be sleeping on the floor," it was obvious that someone had knocked him out, but Iruka really didn't want to deal with these kids anymore. As far as he was concerned, the sooner he just got this over with the better, "and Naruto, you and the new girl have to sit in an actual seat."

"Fine, what ever," both Naruto and Akane grumbled about prudish sensei's making Iruka gain several tic marks on his head. They sat down in the bench-like seats, though Akane sat sideways so that she could rest her legs across his lap and her head on his shoulder. Iruka just gave an annoyed grunt, feeling it was best to just ignore Naruto since he knew that there wasn't much he could do or say to convince the blond or his 'mate' to do anything more than what he just asked. He had already recieved a report from Sandaime-Sama warning him that it would be hazardous to his health if he were to attempt to seperate them.

One of the random civilian students woke up Sasuke, who was thankfully so groggy and disoriented that all he could do was sit down at his desk. Sighing in relief Iruka began his end of the year speech, "As of today you are all ninja, to get here you've faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing, what comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin, first level ninja, the lowest class of ninja. All genin will be grouped into three man squads, each squad will be led by a jonin, an elite ninja."

"_I really wish Iruka-sensei would just get to who our jonin sensei is,"_ Naruto grumbled.

"_**Well you know how long winded Dolphin-san can be," **_Akane said. **_"I remember reviewing some of the memories from your Chishio Bunshin, the man's speaches were pretty archaic and boring. Personally, I think he just likes to hear the sound of his own voice."_**

"_Heh, so true."_

All of the other genin were also wondering who they were going to have for their squad. Well, most of them were. Shikimaru just thought the whole thing was troublesome, Choji was too busy eating to pay too much attention. Sasuke, who by now had recovered and gone back to his brooding, felt that a squad of three would only slow him down. The others were all varied in their thoughts, Shino was trying to figure out who he would work with best, Kiba wanted to be with anyone that was a hot girl, Hinata and the other girls wanted to be with Naruto, though they did not want to be with Akane. Said two demon-shinobi already knew who their squad consisted of, minus their jonin-sensei.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up." Iruka looked at the paper in his hand, "I will now announce the squads, squad one..." As the squads were announced Naruto stopped paying attention and let his mind wonder to something more pleasant than who the other teams consisted of. That pleasant something being Akane.

Letting his hands wonder over her legs Naruto lightly kneaded her thighs. _**"Mmmm, if you keep doing that I may have to jump you in class,"**_ Akane purred in his mind. Naruto just smiled as he let his hand glide across her silken legs until they came to a stop at her moist center. He pressed two fingers against the cloth of her shorts and began to rub her lips through the fabric. Akane shivered and had to bite her lower lip to keep from crying out her pleasure, she knew what Naruto was doing and vowed to get back at him when he least expected it.

"...And now, for team twelve," Naruto's ears perked up, "Naruto Uzumaki, Akane Uzumaki," many girls became even more depressed when they heard that; not only was that red haired slut on his team but she had taken Naruto's last name for her own. How could they compete with that? "Your jonin sensei will be Anko Mitirashi."

"But wait, sensei!" interrupted Sakura, "I thought that all squads had three genin to one jonin! If so, then how come that squad just has _those_ two?"

"Because those two happened to pass with the highest scores," said Iruka, causing a murmur in the classroom. "Hokage-Sama himself tested Akane-san. As for why they only have two genin on their squad, that's because of the imbalance Akane-san's presence has created. Before, there were only twenty-seven of you, enough for exactly nine teams. However, with Akane being added to the roster it presented the problem of imbalance. We were only able to pull Sai-san over there from another class as no one else had the necessary skills to pass the graduation exams."

Everyone turned to look at Sai, who had plastered a fake smile on his face. The kid actually sort of resembled Sasuke, with the pale skin, black hair and dark eyes. The main difference being only that creepy fake smile he wore and the fact that his hair didn't look like the back end of a ducks ass. He was wearing a casual outfit consisting of a black shirt with a high collar, matching black pants, and regular shinobi sandals. For what ever reason he wasn't wear his forehead protector or gloves with this outfit.

"That left one team who would only get two, and since these two have scored the highest grade since...well, in a while, there the ones who we chose to have a two man squad until we can find them another member," Iruka coughed, not wanting to say Itachi's name in front of Sasuke. "Now, if none of you have anymore questions then -" Iruka was interrupted when the window shattered and a black ball of cloth flew in. it unfurled and showed a large banner that became hung in the middle of the room by two kunai on each side and stuck into the walls. The banner read 'The Single and Incredibly Sexy, Anko Mitirashi' on it for all to see. That was when said trench coat clad kunoichi stepped into view.

"Alright kiddies! I'm the jonin-sensei for team twelve, I suggest if you don't want me to shove my foot off your ass than you need to get over here now!" Anko shouted while pumping a fist into the air. All of the girls in the class sweat dropped while at the same time wondering who this slut was. The guys on the other hand were all drooling and several had blood dripping down their nose.

"Anko-san, your an hour early," Iruka said, his right eye twitching. "The jonin sensei's aren't suppose to come over here to pick up their new genin until one o'clock."

"Really?" Anko put a hand behind her head and laughed sheepishly. "Well, whatever, I think this will be better anyways. So where are my brats?"

"**Looks like the old man really came through,"** Anko turned to see both Naruto and Akane right next to her and nearly jumped back in shock. It was only her experience that kept her from showing any surprise at how fast the two had moved. The red head was circling around Anko and had a calculating look on her face as she eyed the jonin up and down. Finally she stopped in front of the purple-haired woman, turned to Naruto, and grinned. **"I like her," **she decided, getting Naruto to chuckle while Anko just looked confused.

"And I'm sure it has nothing to do with her state of dress," Naruto teased, "I think your just pleased to see someone who has... somewhat similar taste in clothes." Akane childishly stuck her tongue out at him. While they began teasing each other with inane comments, Anko was blinking at them owlishly. However she soon began to get a tic mark on her head as they continued to ignore her.

"Hey you brats, quite ignoring me!" she shouted, causing the blond and the red head to stop talking and turn to her. "Now that I have your attention, follow me, and try to make sure you can keep up," She turned and jumped out of the window. Naruto and Akane looked at each other, shrugged, and than blurred out of existence in a burst of speed.

The moment Anko had left the Academy building and jumped over the fence she took to the rooftops. Looking behind her she saw that both her new students were already hot on her trail. _Good,_ she thought to herself, _at least I know their not useless._ Deciding to test them some more the purple-haired jonin sped up, pumping chakra into her legs as she made her way out of the village proper and into the training fields. Taking to the trees she put on another burst of speed and began to create a random path as she made her way to one of the training grounds. Anko only stopped when she got to training ground forty-three, a training ground that was right next to her favorite one that she had been forbidden from using in her test.

She stopped on a tree branch and looked behind her to see if her 'students' had managed to follow her. As she was doing this a voice spoke directly in her ear, "who are we looking for Anko-sensei?"

"Gah!" Anko spun around, kunai in hand only to stop when she saw Naruto and Akane standing there grinning at her. She flicked the kunai back into her wrist and tried to regain her composure, "not bad, I'm impressed you brats can keep up with me." The two gave each other an amused look but by now Anko was ignoring them as she went into her spiel. "Ok! So this is normally the part where we would introduce ourselves, however we're not going to do that. I already know your names and you should know my name, we'll get plenty of chances to learn more about each other later. That is, if you pass my test."

"Test?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yep!" Anko smirked at them, "you didn't think that the test they gave you was the real test did you?"

"It was pretty easy," Naruto admitted, "I had been wondering about that. So am I to take it that the test we took was just to see if we were actually capable of being genin, and the one your going to give us is the actual genin test?"

"Got it in one gaki," Anko praised.

"**So what is this test?"** asked Akane.

Anko grinned at them, "you two will have to locate me and than battle me into submission. The only way you I'll even consider you my students if you can beat me, because there is no way in hell I'm going to be stuck doing D rank missions. I suggest that you two come at me with the intention to kill, otherwise you'll have no chance of winning."

As the two watched Anko dissolve into mud Akane turned to Naruto, **"did you do it?"**

"Of course," Naruto smirked, "I planted the seal on her the moment she stopped running. She's about twenty meters from us, south south-east."

"**Shock and awe?"**

"Shock and awe."

Shock and awe was the name that Akane had given to Naruto's general fighting style. She had given it that title when he had been fighting in the Civil War in Kirigakure, due to how destructive many of his jutsu were they tended to surprise his opponents by their sheer destructive capabilities, sometimes he had even gotten enemy ninja to surrender simply by being on the battlefield once rumor about his overpowered jutsu had spread. It was a style that had served him well in the past and so Naruto decided to use it when he felt he had a distinct advantage or his opponent was underestimating him, like Anko was doing now.

The two looked at each other and vanished in a blur.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Anko looked around the tree she was hiding near, it had been five minutes and neither Naruto nor Akane had found her. She wondered where they could be, Sarutobi had warned her that the two were not what they seemed and to take them very seriously. She had of course listened with half an ear and than decided to do her own thing. I mean, how powerful can two newly minted genin be?"<p>

"**Katon: Karyū Endan!" **Anko's eyes widened as voice shouted behind and slightly above her. She had just enough to jump away from the tree she was hiding in order to avoid the large fire dragon attack, letting it smash into the tree. There was a large explosion and shower of burning wood chips as the tree became less of a tree and more of a stump. Anko's eyes widened at the power of the jutsu. What kind of twelve year old kid had that power?

She didn't get a chance to do more than think that question as Naruto appeared in front of her. Wide eyed, Anko dodged the punch he sent towards her head, bending her body backwards in ways that were reminiscent of a snake. Thanks to her body being more or less parallel with the ground Anko was now able to see Akane dive bombing her with a foot that looked like it was on... fire?

Yes, it was on fire. Not only was it on fire but the flames were a brilliant white that seemed to burn the retina just from looking at them. "What the hell!" the purple-haired jonin shouted as she rolled out of the way. Just in time to, the moment Akane's foot hit the ground it created a concentrated blast of fire that left a crater with an oddly smooth surface. Looking up, the red head smirked at Anko, causing said woman to growl.

"You know you have more than one opponent sensei," Anko's eyes went wide as she turned around and was just in time to dodge a lightening fast strike that would have hit her thyroid cartilage. She twisted her body around to dodge the attack while at the same time trying to strike back with an hand that was reminiscent of a snake, and just as quick. However Naruto was more than up to the task of dodging and tilted his head to the side, spinning around as he brought his arm up and grabbed her wrist. Smirking, the whiskered blond pulled on the wrist in his grasp, knocking Anko of balance as she stumbled towards him. Crouching down he aimed a strike under her arm for the joint that connected her arm to her body. Luckily for Anko she was able to dislocate her join and dodge the blow. At the same time she twisted her wrist out of his grasp and jumped back.

_Damn, the old man was right,_ Anko thought to herself. These two really were good, she may actually have to take this seriously.

Akane went through several hand seals, while she had only just started using jutsu this week thanks to her reserves being so much smaller than they used to be, she had more than enough knowledge on them thanks to the times she had seen them in battle and Naruto's training. **"****Katon: G****ō****kyaky****ū**** No Jutsu!****"** Akane shot out a large fireball from her mouth, forcing Anko to jump away as it crashed into the ground and exploded on contact.

"Sen'eijashu (Hidden Shadow Snake Hands)!" Anko thrust out her hands and four snakes shot from each sleeve. Each group went after one of the two demonic ninja; the four that went after Akane were simply burned to a crisp as she shot out a smaller and somewhat less lethal version of the Kitsune bi, however Naruto decided he wanted to be flashy. He had placed a hand on his sword and the moment the snakes came near him, their mouths open in an attempt to bite him, he disappeared. There were several flashes of light before Naruto reappeared just a little bit in front of where he had been, sheathing his sword. When the sword was completely in the sheath, making a light click, the four snakes that had been sent after him were suddenly cut into nearly fifteen separate pieces.

_That speed was unbelievable! _Anko shouted to herself as she stared at what Naruto had done to her snakes, _I think that was as fast as Gai!_

"**Katon: Hōsenka No Jutsu!"** Akane raised a hand to her mouth and began shooting out several basketball sized fireballs. Anko began dodging them, jumping from tree to tree in an effort not to get it. It seemed she was too slow however, as one of the fireballs smashed into her. Anko was blasted back and hit a tree, only to puff into a burst of smoke that revealed a log.

Akane jumped into the air just as Anko burst out from under her, kunai in hand. The purple-haired kunoichi tossed the kunai at her and went through several hand seals, "Kunai Kage Bunshin No Jutsu (Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" the one kunai soon became one dozen kunai, all of them heading for Akane. Said demoness wasn't too concerned however, she raised her left arm and swiped it as the sharp pointy throwing weapons came closer. A blaze of fire shot out from her hand and hit the kunai, melting them before they could touch her.

Anko had to blink for several seconds as her mind tried to comprehend what had just happened. That second was all Naruto needed to kick her in the back of the head. He came at her again just as Anko managed to right herself, she skidded along the ground and saw him coming in. "Sen'eijashu!" she thrust out her hands and more snakes came out. However Naruto didn't even bother slowing down as the snakes came in and tried to bite or at least grab him. He just began dodging the snakes, moving across the ground in a slight zigzag pattern.

"You'll have to do better than that Sensei!" Naruto said as he closed the distance between them and the two soon found themselves in a taijutsu battle. For her part, Anko was trying to do her best to get some distance from the lightning quick genin. It was becoming painfully obvious that these two were above genin level, far above that level.

She managed to get away by making a Tsuchi Bunshin (Mud Clone) and using it in conjunction with a Kariwimi to act as a minor distraction. "Alright Kiddies!" Anko shouted as she sped through several hand seals, "I've been going too easy on you it seems! Let's see how you hand this! Kuchiyose No Jutsu (Summoning Jutsu)!" Slamming her hands on the ground Anko was engulfed in a large puff of smoke. Both Naruto and Akane were soon forced to jump away as a giant sixty foot long snake lunged out of the smoke with it's fangs extended.

As the snake crashed through a tree near their previous position, Akane turned her head to look at Naruto. **"Do you want this one? Or should I take it?" **she asked.

"Go ahead," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "I know you want to be the one who takes big bad and scaly out."

"**Your so good to me,"** Akane cooed before she ran up to the snake. Her movements were so fast that one moment she was standing next to Naruto, then the next second she right next to the snake, her fist pulled back with a large, white fire on it. **"Kitsune Bi: Kobushi (Fox Fire: Fist)!"** She shouted as a warning, giving Anko just enough time to jump off of the Snakes head before it was engulfed in a large pillar of white fire.

_What the fuck is going on!_ Anko screamed inside of her mind as she watched her summon go back to the summoning world with severe burns on it. "That kind of power is ridiculous, how can a couple of brats have this kind of strength?"

It was in her distracted state that she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and the tip of a kunai pointed at her jugular, "when your as awesome as we are this kind of stuff just comes naturally sensei." Turning her head Anko saw Naruto grinning at her.

"**So, do we pass?"** asked Akane as she walked up to the two, dusting off her hands.

"Yes, you pass," Anko said, sounding slightly dazed. Her mind was still in the process of trying to comprehend just what had happened during what should have been a very simple test. "Meet me here at uh..." she blinked a few times as her eyes began to survey the utterly destroyed training ground. It would take the cleaning crew some time to fix this, "Meet me at training ground forty-two at seven am tomorrow."

"Excellent!" Naruto said as he walked over to Akane, without breaking stride scooped the beautiful red head up into his arms. "We'll see you tomorrow sensei. Akane-chan and I need to go have some celebratory sex. See ya!" The two disappeared within a Sunshin, leaving a blushing Anko behind.

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><p><strong>Ok, this is the end of my awesome for now. I'm going to work on the next chapter of Namikaze's Return, then another chapter of Negima, then Shifts. I do have the next arch thought out, but I need to write my plot tree for it. Hope you enjoyed... the awesome.<strong>

**Also, from now on I will try to update at least one story once a month. If my awesome kicks in you may get more chapters for a specific story within a shorter timeframe, but if there is none it will be like this:**

**Namikaze's Return - This one will be updated tomorrow.**

**Negima - a month after NMR**

**Shifts in Life - a month after Negima**

**Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf - A month after Shifts**

**-I'm thinking of disbanding my Naruto/Bleach though, mainly because I saw four other stories that mine essentially copied, and I don't just mean is similar, I mean word for word copied.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I recieved a review on my last chapter claiming that my Naruto was godlike so I'm just going to come out and say it. Yes, this Naruto is godlike, that's the entire reason I added his childhood, I didn't want to have him go from weak little brat, to kick ass hanyou within the first two chapters. However to sooth your troubled minds Naruto has several limitations that you will learn of thanks to him being an hanyou, and he will eventually be fighting godlike opponents. So try not to worry too much.**

**By the way, I don't own Naruto.**

**Chapter 17: First Mission**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was the morning after Anko had given her exam and Naruto and Akane became genin. The morning was still fairly young, the sun had risen just a little while ago and there still wasn't much in the way of light.<p>

Naruto and Akane walked into the training ground that Anko had told them to meet her at. Because it was still so early their sensei wasn't there yet, but that didn't bother the pair. **"Seems like we're a tad early,"** Akane said, giving her mate a small, innocuous smile. **"What should we do****?"**

Naruto chuckled, "I'm sure we'll think of something." Leading her over to one of the trees, the whiskered blond sat down and leaned against the trunk. With a grin on her face Akane soon followed suit, straddling his waist. Lifting her left hand the red head brought it up to her mate's face, where she cupped his cheek and used her thumb to caress his whisker marks. She smirked when she heard a low growl come from his throat.

"**Seems these whiskers are still sensitive," **she murmured in a low, sensual voice. Akane pressed her body against his. She leaned her head down while Naruto lifted his up and the two met in a light kiss. Their lips moved in tandem with each other, applying a small amount of pressure to the others lips. Soon, neither were satisfied with just chaste kisses, Akane opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, letting Naruto slip his tongue inside. She moaned as he caressed the inside of her mouth. When she felt his tongue disappear the red head pushed her own tongue in his mouth, enjoying the taste of her mate.

When they pulled back, there breathing was a little heavier than before and both had lightly flushed faces. Naruto smiled as Akane closed her eyes and rested her head against his, their foreheads and noses just touching. "You know, sometimes this still feels like a dream," he admitted.

"**Than its a good a dream,"** Akane mumbled before she went back to claiming her mate's lips with her own. They were still enjoying the sensations when a voice knocked them both out of their activities.

"Don't you two ever keep your hands off of each other," blinking the two stopped their small make out session and turned to look at Anko, who had just shunshined (Body Flicker) onto the training field. They both noticed with a small amount of amusement that the purple-haired jonin had a light blush covering her face, and when she made eye contact with either one of them she would turn her head slightly.

Akane grinned as she got a mischievous idea. **"Not if I can help it,"** she quipped before leaning down and gave Naruto a passionate open mouthed kiss so that Anko could see their tongues dueling. Realizing what Akane was trying to do, the blonds hands went from resting on her hips to her perfectly tight ass where he began to squeeze and message her cheeks, getting a low, sensual moan from the red head. Anko's blush flared and she quickly turned away from the scene, grumbling about no good gakis who were too horny for their own good.

Both genin snickered a little as Akane stood up and offered a hand to help up Naruto. "So, are we going to see Ojisan?" asked the blond as he stretched his hands over his head and let loose a large yawn.

"Yep!" Anko grinned as she got back into character. She was actually cursing herself now for getting so worked up and embarrassed by what they were doing, she was the one who was supposed to make the genin uncomfortable around her, not the other way around. And she would be damned if she let them continue, "considering how well you two did on your test I figured you guys don't need much training so we're going to go and get a nice C ranked mission for ourselves. Now let's go!" pumping a fist in the air Anko began to walk off.

When they entered the Hokage's office it was an amusing sight. As per usual Anko kicked the door in the minute she got permission to enter and stood there while striking a pose. Naruto and Akane entered hand in hand, one looked amused and the other had a smirk. "Ohayo Ojisan/Hokage-Sama!" came the greeted of two voices.

Sarutobi sweat dropped at the similar quality their voices held. _Seeing them now I'm beginning t__he think giving those two to Anko wasn't the best idea I've ever had,_ he thought to himself. Shaking the thoughts away for the moment he greeted them with a smile, "ah, team twelve! Here for you first mission I take it?"

"That's right," Anko said with a grin. "And none of that D ranked crap you give the other genin, these brats seem good enough to handle a C rank at least."

_You have no idea,_ thought Naruto as he watched Sarutobi raise an eyebrow.

"You do know that's against standard procedure, don't you Anko?" asked Sarutobi, his voice sounding mild, testing.

"I know that," Anko seemed to have a strong desire to scowl as her facial muscles kept changing. Still, she kept her face in the slight grin she was so well known for, "but these two are a lot better than any of the other genin, and there team work is already great. They don't need to D ranks," D rank missions were actually missions to promote team work. They consisted of doing things like mowing and weeding lawns, cleaning out kennels, walking dogs, painting fences and any other myriad of tasks that the villagers had. The missions weren't hard, but they were designed to promote teamwork between squad members.

"You think so?" asked Sarutobi. Anko gulped a little at the hard look he was giving her but stood firm and nodded. Then the old Hokage surprised her by smiling, "good." the purple-haired woman relaxed as the Sandaime began to leaf through some of the scrolls, searching for the one he felt would be best suited for this team. "Ah, here we go," he pulled out a scroll and read it for a moment before nodding. "There is an outlying farm located several miles outside of Konoha, they special in breeding horses for the Daimyo of Hi No Kuni as well as several racing horses. The client is worried that some of the competition may try to poison his horses to eliminate him as a competitor."

"So it's a protection detail," Naruto stated.

"That's it exactly."

"Looks like we've got our mission," Anko turned to her genin, "alright brats, pack for a standard C rank mission and meet me at the North Gate in half an hour." Naruto and Akane watched as their jonin sensei disappeared within a swirl of leaves.

"See ya later, Ojisan!" Naruto said as he and Akane disappeared within a burst of white flames, shocking Sarutobi who had to blink several times as if he was not quite sure what he had seen.

The old Hokage soon sighed and looked out the window, "I'm getting to old for this shit."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Half an hour later Naruto and Akane met up with Anko by the North Gate Entrance. "Alright," the purple haired jonin said as she finished eating the last of her Dango and was now picking her teeth with the stick they had been skewered to. "Before we go I want to see the equipment you have for this mission," it was a standard procedure for all jonin senseis to look over their genins equipment, especially on their first C rank mission. Having the right equipment was a very important facet of being a shinobi and while some may not think much of it, if you ran out it could easily lead to death.<p>

"Um, can we just tell you what we have?" when Anko raised an eyebrow at Naruto he decided to elaborate with some visual help. He unstrapped his left kunai pouch and opened it up, making Anko look inside. At first, she saw nothing, no kunai, no shuriken or ninja wire, nothing. She was about to berate him were suddenly her eyes were draw to several area's that looked like someone had drawn several sets of kanji surrounded by what looked like squiggles.

"A...are those seals?" asked Anko in a mixture of shock and surprise. She looked up at Naruto to see him grinning at her.

"Yep!" he said, reattaching his pouch. "I placed them in my pouch so that I can hold more equipment. I figured it would give me the element of surprise, since a standard issue kunai pouch can only carry up to twenty kunai, fifty shuriken, twelve feet of ninja wire, or two hundred exploding notes, at any given time, or you can mix those but it always amounts to a similar amount of equipment. This way, I can use twenty kunai, and my enemy will think I'm all out of equipment, then I can surprise him by using more." He had come up with this method of surprise after one of the times he had been raiding a bandit camp. During his battle he had run out of equipment and was forced to use hand to hand combat against an enemy ninja who had been better than him. If it hadn't been for Akane letting him use her youki he would have lost.

Anko worked her mouth several times before she found her voice, "That's, actually pretty smart." It was actually very smart, she could easily see the benefits of having something like this. "So what do you have in those seals?"

"Well each seal holds a different weapon," Naruto began as he started pointing them out and stating what was in them. "I have one hundred kunai in this one, two hundred shuriken in here, this one has fifty feet of ninja wire, in this one I have four hundred explosive notes, the one over here as twenty flash bangs, and the one right next to it has fifty smoke pellets, this one at the bottom holds ten fold out Fuuma Shuriken, and this last one holds ten hand grenades..."

"Wait, what's a hand grenade?" asked Anko, she had never heard of a hand grenade before.

"**It's a powerful type of explosive," **Akane said, bringing the purple-haired jonin's attention to her. **"It'****s a small bomb that can be thrown by hand." **The red head reached into her pouch and called one of the grenades to her hand so she could show it to Anko. The grenade was about the size of a fist, with a notched surface and appeared to be made of some kind of steel. There was a protrusion on one side that had a pin in it. **"What you do is you pull this pin out, this releases a set of explosive chemicals that take five seconds to fully mix, and when they do it causes an unstable reaction and they explode."** Akane chuckled at seeing Anko's dumbfounded expression, **"these are about five times more powerful than a explosive note."**

"R-really?" Anko was nearly drooling at the thought of what she could do with something like that. "And where can I get some of those."

"No where," said Naruto, "I don't think there's a single store that sells them."

"Than how did you get them?" asked Anko with a frown.

"**That should be obvious,"** Akane said, **"we made them."**

Anko started making choking noises and the demonic couple snickered at her. When the purple haired jonin had finally managed to get a hold of herself she looked at the two with pleading eyes, "Do you think -"

"We can make some for you sensei," Naruto interrupted, already knowing what she was going to ask. "You'll have to buy the supplies though, making hand grenades aren't cheep."

"I suppose that's fine," Anko said, more than willing to pay for the materials if those grenades really were as good as they said. "Right, so your pack seems to be well over what you actually need, but you know what they say, better to be over prepared than under prepared. Anyways, I take you have the same combination?" Akane nodded and Anko grinned, "right, then let's move out! I want to be at the farm before nightfall!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The journey wasn't that long, thanks to Anko being a jonin and Naruto and Akane being well, Naruto and Akane, they managed to make it to the special horse breeding farm. It was located on a fairly decent size of property, about twenty acres all told. There were two large buildings, a beige colored house and a red barn house.<p>

The team of three walked up to the house where Anko proceeded to knock on the door. It was a few minutes before the door opened and a young woman with black hair and green eyes, wearing a pair of faded jeans and blouse combo with an off white collared shirt opened it. "Ah, you must be the Konoha ninja my husband hired," she said in a pleasant voice as a smile came to her face. She opened the door more fully and stood aside, "won't you please come in?"

"Thank you, ma'am," Anko said, co towing her usual sarcasm to be respectful since they were speaking with the client, wife of the client but it amounted to the same thing.

While the three ninja were observing the nice house, the woman said, "why don't you all sit down while I go get my husband?" she left the three of them, walking through a set of double doors that Naruto noticed led to a hallway.

"This place is pretty nice," Naruto commented as he took a look around before sitting on the couch. Not a moment later Akane sat down next to him. Out of instinct the whiskered blond opened his arm nearest his mate so that she could snuggle up next to him, an act which she took great pleasure in doing. Naruto smiled as his mate rested her head on his shoulders, every time they were close like this he was always reminded of how lucky he was.

"**I ****agree, this house isn't bad,"** Akane said as she yawned, _**"though it's got nothing on our apartment."**_ Her added thoughts forced Naruto to hold back a snort of laughter.

"_Yes well, not many people are talented in sealing and the like."_

"Do you two always have to do that?" asked Anko with a frown as she looked at the two. "Seriously, you two are always all over each other whenever I see you."

"Which has been all of like two days since we've actually met sensei," Naruto shot back, "it's not like we've known each other that long."

"**You're not jealous, are you sensei?"** asked Akane with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Psh, no," Anko did her best to keep the light tint of pinks off of her cheeks but from the widening of Akane's grin and the smirk that Naruto wore she wasn't as successful as she had hoped.

"**You know, if you're jealous you could always ask us if you could join, Anko-**_**sensei**_**,"** Akane said using what Naruto had dubbed her 'sexy nose bleed voice' several years back. It was the kind of voice that could, and has, caused many a nose bleed before.

"W-why would I even think about getting with a couple of brats like you?" Anko stuttered slightly, inwardly cursing. She was not used to actually getting embarrassed by other people, it was usually the other way around. That these two genin could cause her to blush was bothersome.

"**Because the sex is great?"** Akane said with a shrug of her shoulders. Anko felt her face heat up even more and Akane knew she was close to possibly breaking her sensei. She smiled, it was always so fun teasing people. Opening her mouth, she was about to give one more comment to see if she could push the purple-haired jonin a little further when the double doors opened again.

The three Konoha ninja looked over to see the woman walk in with a man two heads taller than her. Where the woman was wearing a style of clothing designed more for the outdoors, the man was wearing a dark blue business suit. He had dark brown eyes and brown hair with a shock of grey in it, giving him a distinguished look. "I would like to thank you for coming," the man said as he sat down on a couch on the opposite side of where Naruto and Akane were sitting. The woman moved through another door and Naruto wondered where she was going.

"It's no problem," Anko said from where she sat, leaning forward in her seat with her elbows resting on her knee's. "Why don't we get down to business so that we can help you protect whatever it is you need protecting."

"Yes, of course," the man said as the woman came back in with a tree and some tea.

"Tea?" she asked, looking at the three Konoha ninja. Anko shook her head negatively, however Naruto and Akane both decided to grab a cup as they thanked the woman, who sat down next to the man.

"My name is Kenzo Gants," the man said by way of introduction, "and this is my wife, Kiotomi."

"I'm Anko," Anko said cheerfully, "the red head is Akane, and the blond with whiskers is Naruto."

"A pleasure to meet you," Kenzo said, "now on to why I requested Konoha shinobi. A while ago I got commissioned by Fire Daimyo-Sama to bread a horse for his eldest daughter. The horse we have bred for her is easily our best."

"And you think someone is going to steal it, or kill it?" asked Anko. That sort of thing actually wasn't unheard of, in fact, there had been something similar that happened in Konoha during a dog breeding contest. One of the civilian breeders had attempted to poison an Inuzuka dog by giving them a shot filled with a diseased pathogen that would turn the dog feral. Thankfully the Inuzuka clan guards their dogs zealously, like they were a part of their family and the person was caught before the deed could be committed.

"We don't know that for sure," Kenzo replied, "but all the same we thought it was better safe than sorry."

"That's good thinking," Naruto said with a smirk, "almost ninja like I would say." The joke caused a mild snort from Anko and a giggle from Akane. Kenzo seemed to take this as a compliment as he grinned while the woman had an amused smile.

"Well, it is getting pretty late," Kenzo said, "I have three rooms set up for you. I'm not sure how you ninja work but I expect the horse to have some form of protection at all times."

"Don't worry," Anko said standing up, "we'll work out shifts so your horse can be under constant guard."

"Very well," Kenzo replied. Turning to look at Kiotomi he said, "why don't you show them to their rooms?"

"Of course," Kiotomi stood up and motioned for the three to follow her. She led them through the double doors and up a set of stairs, which led to a hallway that had doors lining it. Turning the woman looked at the three and said, "The first door on your left belongs to you Anko-san, Akane-san and Naruto-san have the two right next it, they can choose which one they want to sleep in."

"**Oh, do****n't concern yourself with getting us two rooms,"** Akane said with a dismissive wave of her hand, **"Naru-kun and I always sleep together anyways." **The statement caused Anko to face-palm while Kiotomi blushed.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Coming up with a method for guarding Kenzo's prized horse was much easier than Anko anticipated. Thanks to Naruto's ability with seals he was able to create a Goten Hakkaku Fūin (five point detection seal), a seal where five tags were spread out thirty meters from each other to form the shape of a pentagon. It created a detection line around the house and farm, anyone who passed through it was detected via a seal Naruto had drawn on Anko's arm. This would give them all an advanced warning if someone was sneaking in at night, though Naruto also agreed to have some Kage Bunshin stand guard at night as added protection.<p>

During the day Anko decided that Akane would scout the forest, the two had told her of the red heads sensor ability, making it sound like a bloodline and not a demonic trait that she had. The jonin had been pretty ecstatic to realize she had someone with sensor capabilities, which was a very rare trait for humans. Akane had agreed that it would be a good idea for her to scout the surrounding forest, though in truth she just wanted a chance to roam around in her fox form for a while, something she couldn't really do in Konoha for obvious reasons.

As a last thought Anko decided that she would guard their client, it wasn't a part of the job description but she figured that the competition may just try to take them out instead of the horse. After everyone had their assignments and Naruto had finished setting up the seals and making his Kage Bunshin the three Konoha ninja went to bed.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi was doing his best to enjoy a peaceful day when the door to his office opened and in walked three people he had suspected, but hoped he wouldn't see. "Ah, Daznou, Homura, Koharu, what brings you three here today?" he said in a congenial voice, keeping any emotions he might be feeling off of his face.<p>

As the spoke spoken for the three of them, Danzou stepped forward, his cane lightly tapping on the floor before he stopped in front of the Hokage's desk. "There have been some... rather disturbing rumors," he started, his face was a mask that held no emotion and betrayed nothing. Of course, that could have just been because of the bandages. "We were hoping you would be able to shed some light on these rumors and hopefully ease our minds that these are in fact just rumors."

"Well what is it you want to know?" asked Sarutobi.

"We have heard some reports that Mitirashi-san is the jonin-sensei for one... Naruto Uzumaki," Danzou said. "As you know this concerns us because Mitirashi-san is not stable and is a threat risk to the village."

"I see," Sarutobi replied mildly, "are you saying you don't trust my judgment?"

Koharu actually paled at the tone of voice, she had only heard it once. Seven years ago after Naruto had been nearly killed, Sarutobi had managed to get information that the civilian council had been at least partially responsible for keeping him in that meeting during that time. The old man had actually taken action against those who did it, personally executing each one of them during the next council meeting. She quickly moved to defend their words, "not at all Hokage-Sama. We are just concerned that...Uzumaki-san may be manipulated into betraying the village."

"Anko-san has my complete trust," Sarutobi said in a voice that could cut through steel and eyes that froze all three, even Danzou in place. It was times like these that the three were reminded that this man was called the Kami No Shinobi for a reason. "Unlike some people I could name," he looked at all three of them, letting them know who he was talking about.

Danzou, realizing they weren't going to get anywhere with this decided to change subjects, "what's this I hear about a young girl, Akane, if I remember, becoming a genin without going to the academy?"

"She is a young girl who has been living with Naruto-kun in secret for several years," Sarutobi said, "they came to me to see if she could be tested to become a genin with him. I decided to humor them and test her myself, she proved to be quite talented, around chunin level. I decided having her as a shinobi for the village would prove beneficial."

"But, to have her with that boy..."

"That boy has a name," Sarutobi saturated the air with his killing intent. Koharu and Homura, who were no longer shinobi and had not trained in decades, were unable to deal with the killing intent. Danzou could deal with it better, but it was still enough to make his knees weaken. "And thanks to "some" of the people in this village, she is the only person Naruto-kun truly trusts, even I don't have his full trust seeing as he kept all of his abilities hidden from me. By having Akane as a shinobi of Konoha I can keep Naruto-kun from leaving the village."

Sarutobi withheld a smirk as he said these words, he let up his killing intent and said, "after all, if he left the village than we would be out of one Jinchūrikki. And if he went to another village, say Kumo, where their Jinchūrikki are treated as guardians and hero's..." he trailed off when the elders, even Danzou paled at the thought of Kumo getting another Jinchūrikki in their grasp. They already had two, and one, the Raikage's brother was said to be considered the perfect host. If they got Naruto, Kumo could easily become the most powerful of the five great nations.

"I trust I made my point," Sarutobi said, the three said nothing but he knew that he had won this battle. "You three are dismissed."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was early the next morning and Naruto woke up to a very pleasant sensation on his lips. Opening his eyes he saw Akane standing over him with a grin, <strong>"morning Naru-kun."<strong> She leaned back down and gave him another kiss.

"Morning my benihime," Naruto mumbled as his arms found themselves wrapping around Akane's slender waist. He enjoyed the feel of her lips against and opened his mouth so her tongue could slip in, then closed his own mouth to lightly suck on it, causing the red head on top of him to moan. They enjoyed the taste of each other for a few more minutes before pulling back. "That's a pleasant way to wake up," he gave Akane a smile while she gave him an impish grin.

"**You wanna know what's even better than waking up to that?"** asked Akane as she pressed her bare chest against his. At Naruto's inquiring gaze she said, **"hopping into the shower with me so we can help each other get nice...and...clean..."** That was all the motivation Naruto needed as he scooped Akane into his arms and ran into the restroom that was attached to their bedroom.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The pair came downstairs; their hair still wet from taking a...shower, and sat down at a table in the dining room where their sensei was already located. "Good morning gakis," the purple-haired kunoichi said with a cheerful grin as she played with the kunai in her hands.<p>

"Good morning Anko-sensei," Naruto greeted while Akane mumbled out her own greeted, laying her head on Naruto's shoulder. A few minutes later Kiotomi came out of the kitchen and set down a hot plate of pancakes. "These look delicious," the blond said as he forked several onto Akane's plate and nearly twice as much onto his own. "Thank you Kiotomi-san," he told the woman who gave him a kind smile.

"Your most welcome Naruto-san," she said, "I'll be right back to get you three some juice."

"Do you have any sake?" asked Anko, getting three stares, two from her students and a third from Kiotomi. "What?" she said defensively.

"Really sensei? Sake? In the morning?" asked Naruto.

Anko huffed and crossed her arms, "I can't start my day without my morning Sake."

"**I understand where your coming from perfectly,"**Akane said with a nod. Anko smiled, glad to know that at least one person understood her need for Sake, it was bad enough that they didn't have any dango here. The red head continued on as if oblivious to her thoughts, **"it's sort of like how Naru-kun and ****I need our morning sex to get through the day."** Naruto snorted while Anko began choking on the food she had just taken a bite out of and Kiotomi flushed from her head to her feet. Noticing this the vixen just smiled innocently and asked, **"what?"**

Anko glared at her but all that served to do was make Akane's smirk grow larger. The jonin sighed before trying to change topics, "so you two know what your jobs are?"

"Of course," Naruto said after he finished swallowing his food. "I'm going to be in the farm house protecting the horse, and Akane is going to be checking the surrounding forests. Meanwhile, you'll be protecting the client just in case someone decides to take them out instead."

"Glad to know you're on top of things," Anko nodded approvingly.

"**That'****s not all he gets on top of,"** Akane quipped innocently, making Anko face palm and wonder if she had done something in her past life to deserve having to listen to the red heads innuendo laced comments. Perhaps she had been some kind of pervert in her past life?

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Guard duty was in a single word, boring. Naruto sighed as he patrolled around the farm house, he had never been so bored in his life. All throughout the blonds young life he had always been doing something. During his younger years it was getting chased by mobs and trying to find some way to get enough food to live the next day. After he had met Akane it was his training, and during that time he had never had a dull moment. Now however, he was so terribly bored.<p>

"_**You know I can feel all of your angst from here,**__**"**_ Akane's voice shot through his mind.

"_It's not angst,"_ Naruto said defensively, _"I'm just bored. There is absolutely nothing to do."_ He made another sweep around the barn and scowled, _"at least you get to enjoy yourself in the forest. I'm stuck here wal__king around in circles."_

Laughter echoed through his mind and his scowl increased, _**"well, I guess I'll just have to do something tonight in order to make you feel better. You know I brought that chocolate covered thong needed for the fifth scene in Icha I**__**cha paradise? If you wanted we could..."**_

"_Have I ever told you I love you?"_ asked Naruto.

His answer was a giggle, _**"you have, and it's always nice to here. However, I prefer you to show me how much you love me. Preferably while we're in bed."**_

"_Just wait until tonight and I'll show you by filling -"_ Naruto stopped talking when he felt his seals being breached, _"sorry Akane-chan, but someone just stepped through my seal. We'll continue this later tonight."_

"_**Ok, bye."**_ Naruto cut contact with Akane as he placed a hand on the seal he had drawn on his arm. Channeling some chakra through it he felt the seal respond to his chakra. He took his hand off and looked at the seal, which was an Uzumaki swirl that held a thick line with a point inside of it, currently that point was facing the opposite direction he was at, meaning who ever had breached the seal was East of him.

Taking off in that direction Naruto entered the farm and hid in one of the staples. A few minutes later a little girl who looked like a miniature of Kiotomi entered and walk up to the prize horse that would be given to the fire daimyo's daughter. Figuring that this was the daughter of Kenzo and Kiotomi, Naruto came out of his hiding spot and moved over to where the girl was petting the horse. "What are you doing here?" he asked, getting a startled squeak from the girl who fell on her butt.

"Ouchie," the girl rubbed her rear before getting up and turning to glare at him. Now that he was closer Naruto noted that she was fairly young, probably around eight or nine. "Who are you?" she asked in a slightly rude and angry tone.

"Naruto Uzumaki," the blond replied, "I'm one of the ninja your father hired to guard this horse."

And just like that the girls entire demeanor changed upon hearing he was a ninja. "Really?" Naruto was forced to take a step back as the girl got right up in his face with stars in her eyes, "that's so cool! How long have you been a ninja? Have you been on a lot of missions? Have you ever saved a princess? Fought any bad guys? Tell me tell me!"

"Uh..." Naruto opened his mouth to try and talk but the girl didn't even give him a chance as she began yammering away about how cool ninja were and how she wished she could be a ninja. He sighed, either this girl really, really, loved ninja, or she was bipolar or something because Naruto had never seen someone switch from angry that fast. No, that wasn't quite true, Mei was capable of doing that with Ao, but she was also a high level ninja and allowed to have her quirks. This was a kid.

"You know, if you keep talking I won't be able to tell you any cool stories," Naruto interrupted the girl who by now had switched from stating how cool ninja were, to this one time she had met a samurai. The girl definitely some kind of chatter box disease or something.

She looked up at him, blinking a little bit before shouting, "so then tell me a story! A really cool one too! With bad guys and a princess!"

"Well..." Naruto sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know if I have one about a princess, but I could tell you about the famous Uzumaki clan, a powerful clan of ninja that lived on an island surrounded by whirlpools."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>If Akane's Fox form was capable of smiling she no doubt would have, when she was in this form she was much more comfortable when surrounded by nature, sort of how most animals felt in their natural habitat. Having just gotten out of the seal a few days ago she had not actually spent any time in her Kitsune form. Even if she had been given the time she would not have been able to, Konoha had a well-known hatred of foxes thanks to her attack twelve years ago, no doubt they would have tried to kill her if she were spotted. While she doubted anyone could ever catch her, she didn't want to cause possible problems for Naruto.<p>

Just as she was walking around a bush Akane paused, she could hear voices several dozen feet away from her. Knowing that no one aside from the family who had hired them lived anywhere near here she began to move stealthily towards the voices, finding a nice bush to hide under. As she looked over Akane saw three men huddled together.

The first man was rather tall, about seven foot even if Akane had to guess. He was also very skinny, with silvery-gray hair that went a little past his shoulders and odd silver eyes that looked glassy, as if he had spent the last twelve hours getting high. He was wearing a white button up shirt with black pants and some odd looking headgear that reminded her of the Nidaime's.

Just to that guys left was another man, he was rather squat, standing at about four foot three inches and was much more...round, than the other guy. His outfit consisted of a midnight blue business suit, one of the many exports that had come from the western continent.

The last guy was about as average as one could get, average height and weight, plain brown hair and eyes. He was wearing a pair of plain black pants and a long sleeve shirt with black open toed sandals. He was just one of those people that were so plain and average looking that they usually got lost in the crowd.

Knowing it was unlikely they were just wondering and got lost, Akane moved in closer and cast an Kitsune illusion that made her invisible as she listened in.

"This is the place right, Mabui?" asked the tall one, Akane decided to call him scarecrow.

"Yes, this is the place," said the fat one, Mabui if she had to guess, who had a surprisingly deep voice. Akane decided she would call him fat ass since it fit him much better than his name, at least she thought so.

"So all we have to do is steal some stupid horse, right?" asked the last member, the average looking one. After a moment's thought the red head decided to call him joe.

"Yes, but we need to come up with a plan," said fat ass, "I saw some girl wearing a head-band, meaning there are ninja guarding the place."

"N-Ninja!" shouted scarecrow, the man seemed to shake when fat ass mentioned there were ninja. Were Akane in her human form she would have laughed at how terrified the man looked. "M-maybe we should just forget about the whole thing, I-I mean ninja are bad news."

"Don't be such a coward," said Joe, "we may not be ninja but we're still stronger than most people and I have a few ninjutsu up my sleeve. Besides, ninja aren't invincible, and Mabui said it was just a girl." The average looking man turned to Mabui, "so what did this girl look like?"

"Well, she had red hair," fat ass started, "about this tall and had the most luscious curves I've ever seen. A real babe," the man licked his lips, causing Akane to shudder in disgust at the lecherous look on the man's face. She hated the lecherous stares men gave her, which was odd considering how she loved to dress, but that was only for her Naru-kun. "Maybe we should see if we can't capture her as well, it would be nice to have some fun with a female."

"We both know no female would touch you," scarecrow said.

"Who said she had to be willing," shot back fat ass, "we just knock her out, tie her up and..."By this time Akane had stopped listening as rage overtook her, these...these low life, despicable humans actually had the gall to talk about raping her!

Softly growling she moved over to them, transformed into her human form and disengaged her invisibility illusion. **"Who were you three planning on having fun with now?"** she asked in a sugar sweat 'I'm going to castrate you' voice. The three men turned to see her with a smile that was just as sweat and deadly as her voice, all three shivered at that smile. There was just something wrong about it.

"Uh...well..." scarecrow tried to say, odd since he seemed to be the most afraid. The other two looked like they had shit themselves. Of course, it could have something to do with the killing intent Akane was starting to emit.

Akane turned her smile into a wide grin as she cracked her knuckles, **"wrong answer."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"So what did you do to them Onii-chan?" asked the little girl, whose name he had learned was Akisha. Currently said little girl was riding atop of Naruto's shoulders as the blond made his way inside now that the day was over.<p>

"Well I did what all good ninja would do of course, I beat them up and rescued my squad!" Naruto said with a large grin. He had been telling her stories about some of the things he had seen and done within the past several years. At the moment his story was about one of the missions he had gone on with Ao, an infiltration mission into enemy territory. Of course he was embellishing a little, the squad hadn't belonged to him after all. But there was no need to tell Akisha that.

They walked into the house where Anko was sitting with Kiotomi and talking about something. When he entered they both looked up and the brown haired woman's eyes seemed to hold relief at seeing them. "There you are Akisha-chan," she said as she walked over to them. "I've been looking all over for you. Do you know how worried I've been?"

Akisha started sniffling at her mother's scolding tone, and Naruto decided to but in before the girl could start to cry. "It's my fault she wasn't around Kiotomi-san," he said, bringing her attention to him. "I saw her petting the horse and we got to talking. I was telling her some stories and I guess I forgot about the time."

Kiotomi seemed to glare at him for a second before sighing, "she's always loved ninja."

As if to prove her point Akisha began to clap her hands excitedly, "Ninja! Ninja!" Kiotomi shook her head at how hyper her little girl got at the thought of ninja. A smile came unbidden to her face. Kiotomi was just about to open her mouth when the door slammed open.

Everyone turned to see Akane, who looked like she was glaring at everything and nothing at the same time, covered in blood. She didn't even acknowledge them as she stalked passed everyone, even Naruto, as they stared at her with wide eyes. When the red head was out of sight and her foot steps could be heard stomping up the stairs, Anko turned to Naruto and asked, "what the hell is up with her?"

She ignored Kiotomi's glare at her use of a curse word in front of a child as she looked at Naruto, eyebrow raised in a silent question. "I'm not sure," Naruto said with a sigh, "but I'm going to find out." He walked up the stairs and made his way to his door, opened it and entered. As he looked around the room the first thing he noticed was that Akane was not there, though judging by the sound of the shower running she was likely in the shower. The second thing he noticed were the bloody clothes she had strewn about the floor.

Naruto sniffed the air, using youki to enhance his senses. The blood on the clothes wasn't Akane's, not that he ever expected her of all beings to actually get hurt. Though he was slightly surprised to note that the blood smelled of an unfamiliar human. That caused a mild amount of curiosity, very few humans traveled this way and most wouldn't be this far out in the forest unless they were lost or coming here with a specific purpose. _Hmmm... _the blond eyed the clothes for a moment longer before heading towards them bathroom.

He slipped in quietly and noted that Akane had turned the water's heat up as the entire room was being filled with steam. The curtain to the shower was raised and Naruto could see the outline of the red head, who was furiously scrubbing herself and mumbling curses. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure what she was saying since her words were jumbled together, but the words he had caught were "pigs" "sexists cock suckers" and the ever popular "Mother fucking assholes". Quietly chuckling to himself Naruto got out of his clothes, reverted to his true form and slipped into the shower.

The whiskered Ookami Hanyou took a moment to admire his mate from behind, her perfect form, the way her perfectly round and tight ass bounced whenever she made even the slightest movements, the way the water ran down her lithe waist and toned thighs. As he felt his body respond to what he was seeing Naruto once again he thanked Kami, Yami, Inari and whatever other gods were out there for bringing them together.

Noticing that Akane had finished washing the blood off, which he had a theory on how she had gotten so much on her, the whiskered blond closed the distance. He felt Akane stiffen as his arms wrapped around her, his hands coming to rest on her toned waist. "Relax," Naruto said with a small chuckle, "it's just me."

Akane did just that, she relaxed and leaned into his embrace, tilting her head back so she could see his face. **"Sorry,"** she mumbled,** "I guess I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."** She was normally very good at that, hell, with her detection abilities it should be impossible. However, with her mind elsewhere at the moment Naruto had been able to sneak up on her.

"That's not like you," Naruto commented as he placed his lips on her neck. A content sigh came from Akane as she tilted her head in order to give her lover/mate better access. "Normally I would never have been able to come within ten feet of you without you knowing," it made trying to sneak up on her and surprise her very difficult. He remembered one of the times he had tried to do that during training and she had thrown him halfway across the flat, then claimed it was a reflex. Naruto resisted the urge to mutter about "no good vixens" as he said, "I take it whatever pissed you off is dead? At least, judging from the blood it is."

**"Just a couple of..."** Akane blinked as she tried to ignore the lips that were attached to the junction between her neck and shoulder, and currently driving her crazy. **"You know, I'm not sure what they were. From the way they spoke they weren't bandits, but they also didn't have much chakra to use and only one seemed to know any jutsu."**

"They could be academy students who never passed before," Naruto suggested, "ones that got sick of never passing and decided to live a life of thievery."

Akane frowned, **"maybe."**

"Or they could be mercenaries," mercenaries were extremely rare in the elemental nations. Because of the ninja villages, which in many ways could be considered a mercenary village since ninja were more or less hands for hire, it was harder for actual mercenaries to find a job in the elemental nations. That was why mercenaries usually stuck to the continent in the west.

**"Possibly,"** Akane said, her eyes becoming lidded as Naruto's hands began to run along her body. She began to pant as her hands grabbed Naruto's and brought them up to her breasts, where her rapidly hardening nipples were located. She moaned as her blond mate began to knead her breasts and leaned her head back so she could give him some attention. One of her hands went up and grabbed Naruto's chin, turning it so he was facing her. She planted her lips on his in a passionate and deep kiss, both of them moaning as Akane began to grind her delicious rump against him. When they broke the kiss both were breathing heavily and Akane looked from Naruto's bruised lips to his darkening eyes, **"I don't want to talk about those idiots anymore."** She smirked at him, **"why don't we just make each other feel good instead?"**

Her answer was for Naruto to begin kissing her even harder.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"Do you think Akane-san is alright?" asked Kiotomi, sounding slightly worried from where she sat, with her little girl sitting on her lap.<p>

Anko, who had her head slumped back over the back of the couch so she was staring at the ceiling, brought her head back up so she could look at the woman. "Yeah, don't worry about her," she said with a grin, "knowing Akane-san she's probably –" the purple haired jonin didn't get to finish her sentence as several thumbs came from the floor above them. They stopped a moment later and Anko opened her mouth to speak again when they all heard several loud shouts of "Naru-kun!" "Faster!" "Harder!" "dear sweat kami-sama!" and the ever famous "I'm cumming!" coming from above them.

For a long several minutes no one in the room spoke, Anko could feel her face burning as she heard what could only be Naruto and Akane rutting like rabbits in heat. She had honestly thought they were both joking when they said they had sex, at the very least she assumed they would have the decency not to do it while on a mission. Apparently, she had wrong, so very very wrong.

"Mommy, why are they yelling?" asked Akisha in that sweat innocent voice as she looked at her mother with big, wide, innocent eyes that can only be accomplished by a young child.

"I-I'll tell you when you're older," Kiotomi said, her face burning red.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>The next morning had been awkward for everyone who had heard Naruto and Akane the day, and night, before, the two of them had completely forgotten to put up a silencing seal on the door since they were so used to their apartment, which already had one. The two demons of course, had been completely unabashed and had teased their poor sensei until she had passed out from a nose bleed that day. Thankfully for Kiotomi's piece of mind they agreed not to have sex anymore, of course they decided to still have sex anyways, they just remembered to put up the silencing seal the next night.<p>

The days soon passed as the three ninja did their job of protecting Kenzo's prized horse, as well as said man and his family. It was three weeks before the Fire Daimyo sent someone to pick up the horse, Naruto had actually been interested at seeing all of the samurai who had been sent for the sake of one horse. Despite having spent long periods of time outside of Konoha he had never seen any actual samurai before.

When their mission was accomplished the three ninja began their journey back to Konoha, arriving at the North Gate in less than a day. "Alright you two," Anko said after she had given the two chunin gate guards, both of whom were almost too busy staring at Akane to notice purple haired woman, making her scowl, her ninja ID. "The mission is complete, and since this one was so easy I don't need either of you to come with me when I give Sandaime-Sama an account of what happened. So you two are free to go."

Naruto and Akane both grinned as they jumped to the roofs and took off. With them gone Anko made her way to the Hokage's office, entering with her usual flare. "Do you have to do that every time you come in here Anko-san?" asked Sarutobi as he eyed his busted down door. He noticed the look she was giving him and sighed, "right, your report."

Anko snapped to attention and all playfulness left her face as she gave him her report on the mission. Sarutobi listened to everything, his keen mind picking out all the details so he could ask questions after she finished. When Anko had finished her report he asked for specifics or clarification on certain parts of the mission, before leaning back in his chair and thinking over everything his jonin had said.

"And what do you think of your two genin?" asked Sarutobi at last.

"They have talent," Anko admitted, "however, we've only had this one mission andthis didn't really give me a chance to see them in action so I can't give you an accurate account of their skill set or anything like that."

"So you believe a harder mission may be warranted in order to see how good those two really are?" asked Sarutobi.

"I believe it would be a good idea," Anko said.

Sarutobi nodded, "come back in a few days and I should have a mission that will give us a good base on their skills. I have a good feeling that those two may become some of my best, if not "the" best shinobi we have." _That is, if they aren't already,_ the aging Hokage did not voice those thoughts out loud however.

Anko straightened, "very well, Hokage-Sama!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p><span>Character Profiles: Akane Uzumaki<span>

Titles/nickname: Akane, Kyuubi No Yōko (Title granted by the gods), Nine Tails, Akane-chan (Naruto), Benihime (Naruto), Kyuubi-Sama (the other Bijuu)

Likes: Naruto, spicy foods, sleeping, pranks, sex with Naruto, teasing others, insulting and/or demeaning the Uchiha clan.

Dislikes: The Uchiha Clan, Idiots, perverted men that aren't Naruto, rapists, Sakura, Sasuke, the Civilian Council of Konoha.

Bio: Originally a member of the Kitsune Clan, a clan that of warriors that had been formed long before the time of the Rikudou Sennin and the age of chakra, and held a strong affinity for nature and foxes. At a young age, Akane was selected to serve under Inari-Sama as a member of his army due to her skills in combat and her intelligence and cunning. Within the first fifteen years of service she rose through the ranks and became Inari's right hand.

During the time where the Yamata No Orochi was creating a swath of destruction through the Elemental Nations, Akane was selected by Inari to be his avatar on earth. She was given his power and the title of Kyuubi, where she, along with eight other who received the power of their gods was sent to the Elemental Nations to stop the Yamata No Orochi. After they had succeeded Akane was given the lands that would later become Hi No Kuni by Kami, and would act as its guardian for the next two thousand years before being sealed into Naruto.

Characteristics: Like all Kitsune Akane loves a good prank, whether something as harmless as a woopy cushion, or more sinister like tying emo brooders up and dumping them in the women's hot spring when its full of ANBU members. She has a particular fondness for teasing other women about her sex life with Naruto and inviting them to join in.

However one should never let her playful and mischievous disposition fool them. Akane is as powerful as they come and when required has a ruthlessn streak that would shock others. As the one who holds the title of Kyuubi she is the most powerful Bijuu in existence, a master of the fire element and illusions, her illusions are so powerful that not even doujutsu like the Byakugan and sharingan can break through them.

Famous Akane quotes:

_"You don't have spiky blond hair, your eyes aren't blue and you don't have those adorable whisker marks like my Naru-kun… why do you think I would want to have sex with you?"_

_"do you wanna join us? Well? If you ask nicely I may consider letting you... share the experience."_

_"Look, can we make this really quick? Naru-kun promised he would send me into sexual coma after I killed you, and personally, that sounds far more fun than fighting you."_

_"You should feel honored… getting your ass kicked by a hot woman like me is probably the closest you'll ever come to sex."_

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><p><strong>This chapter was more to set up the team dynamic between Naruto and Akane and Anko than anything else. Now, enjoy, I'm hitting the sack.<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Some people have asked if Anko is ever going to join in the festivities with Naruto and Akane. The answer is no, I have no intention of actually having Anko join them. If, and this is a BIG if, if I decide to do a threesome lemon, it will be with one of the side characters that you only see once, because it will only ever be a ONE TIME DEAL. Reason being is that if Naruto and Akane had sex with someone they saw day in and day out it could ruin team dynamic, or said characters interaction with them. Its the same thing in real life, no matter what anyone says, when you have sex with someone it changes the way you view them. So No Anko/Naruto/Akane lemon scene, nor will they be getting with any other Konoha Kunoichi. Naruto and Akane simply enjoy teasing her and others because they find it amusing, nothing more.**

**By the way, I do...not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 18: Infiltrating A Slaver Camp**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was early in the morning when Anko, Akane and Naruto entered the Hokage's office. It had been a week since their first successful mission as team twelve, during that time Naruto and Akane had spent some of it with Anko, learning more about the woman who was their sensei. They learned a few things about her, like Anko's best friend was Kurenai Yūhi, Team eights Jonin-sensei; and that she her hobby was having tea parties, something the two had teased Anko about, though they later had one with her to show they didn't actually think any less of her. They had yet to hear the story about how Anko had gotten that curse mark they had both found on her shoulder, the purple-haired jonin had gotten rather defensive about it when asked so the two had backed off. Other than that Naruto, and even Akane, had taken to doing some more training.<p>

The only other thing the two demonic ninja did was have sex, a lot of sex.

"Team Twelve reporting for another mission Hokage-Sama!" Anko said with her usual flare for the dramatic, though it was slightly muffled because she was currently eating some Dango. Behind and slightly to the left Akane and Naruto exchanged amused glances.

"Ah, Team Twelve," Sarutobi said with a smile. "I trust you three are well rested than?"

"Well rested, and slightly bored," Naruto admitted with a shrug. However, this statement caused Akane to drape herself on Naruto, pressing herself against his side.

"**Aw, are you really bored with me Naru-kun?"** asked Akane in a soft and sexy coo. **"I thought we were having fun... perhaps ****we should take thing's up a step in our relationship than? You know, I was thinking we should try out that position in Icha Icha Paradise, page number 107."** Page number 107 was actually when Jebaiya, the hero of the story, saves a king and his kingdom. As a reward, Jebaiya is given a harem of seven beautiful women, including the princess and has a large orgy with them. Something that would totally happen in real life...

...Yeah right.

Sarutobi, like Kakashi, was an avid reader of the Icha Icha series. He had read every book that had come out and even has an unedited version of the book that had not yet come out. Having read each book multiple times, the aging Hokage had memorized every single scene in all of the books. Thus, he knew what page one hundred and seven held and the fact that another female, a female that even though Sarutobi was deathly afraid of due to who, or more importantly what she was. He could also not deny that she was one of, if not "the" hottest woman he had ever seen in his life. Was too much for the old Hokage, and the reaction was immediate.

Blood burst out of the old man's nose like a geyser, shooting him out of his seat, where he hit the wall and slid down. Everyone, from Anko to the three ANBU hidden in the room, well, the one female ANBU hidden in the room. The other two were males and had the same reaction to Akane's words as Sarutobi. The female ANBU sweat dropped, before realizing her two partners had also been knocked unconscious via nose-bleeds and scowled at the perverted male condition.

"**HAHAHA!"** Akane gave an uproariously loud laugh at seeing the supposed strongest ninja in the village get knocked unconscious by a simple perverted comment. Beside her Naruto chuckled a little, even as he himself wiped off the blood that began trailing down his nose. He was glad he had lived with the beautiful red head as long as he had, otherwise he would likely be in the same situation as the other men in the room.

Anko merely face-palmed, "I can't believe our Hokage is such a pervert."

It took nearly fifteen minutes for Sarutobi to regain consciousness and sit back down in his seat. "Please refrain from doing that again, Akane-san," Sarutobi coughed a bit and had to refrain from begging, there was really nothing he could do if she did decide to do that or something similar again, and they both knew it. He was about to start speaking again when he noticed the two ANBU were still unconscious, causing him to sweat drop. "Neko-san, could you wake those two back up?" he asked.

Near the window sill behind him a woman with long purple hair and a Neko mask appeared. "With Pleasure, Hokage-Sama!" she said smartly, eagerly, before walking towards her comrades and attempting to wake them up, via kicking them in the ribs really hard.

This caused another sweat drop to appear before the Sandaime got to business. "I have a new mission for you, one which I feel your team is uniquely suited for," he began. "I have received reports of bandits setting up camp somewhere near the borders of Hi No Kuni, they tend to move a lot and so we have not been able to pinpoint there location. However, we have recently received a mission request to take out a group of bandits who have been spotted near a town called Shuto-ri, near the borders between Hi No Kuni and Yu No Kuni (Land of Hot Water). We believe they are the same group."

"Why is that, Hokage-Sama?" asked Anko, bandits appeared everywhere, they were more numerous than any other type of scum. Finding one specific group of these thugs was like trying to find a specific grain of sand amongst a beach.

"Because of what they have been stealing," Sarutobi said. "In every city this particular group struck they did not steal money or valuable items, they stole people." Naruto narrowed his eyes when he heard that, but let the old man continue. "These people were all woman who were between the ages of... nine and their early to mid-thirties."

There was a large growl that initiated from Naruto's throat and everyone, even the ANBU that had just woken up and the female ANBU looked at Naruto who was shaking rather badly. Seeing her mate losing control Akane moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, the contact of she gave him allowed Naruto to regain control of his anger and calm down. **"Sorry Hokage-Sama,"** Akane said, for once being respectful, **"please continue."**

Sarutobi nodded, having already figured out why Naruto had responded this way to the information he gave. "That is why we believe this is the same group that has hit the other cities. They have always been too fast for the authorities to catch, and the cities and towns they attack are completely random, with no set pattern to them. We were lucky with this request, it just arrived and is less than a day old."

"Meaning there's still a chance the bandit group will be there," Naruto said, having finally regained control of himself. Placing his hands over hers he leaned back against Akane, when the red head turned to look at him he gave her a smile. Her return response was to smile as well.

"Yes," Sarutobi said, taking note of the by-play between the two. "Which is why you are to leave immediately. This is a B rank mission where time is of the essence."

"In that case we'll be leaving in thirty minutes," Anko turned to her two subordinates. "Pack your things and meet me at the South Gate."

Naruto and Akane didn't even say anything as they both nodded and disappeared within a swirl of leaves.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>As they reappeared within their home Akane noted how agitated Naruto still was. Most of the time the blond's movement, whether in combat or simply walking, was always graceful, akin to a predator stalking his prey. Right now however, his movements were stiff and his muscles kept coiling and uncoiling with each step. His entire posture radiated anger and a slight bloodlust that Naruto usually never had.<p>

"**Naru-kun,"** Akane said, saddling up to him and bringing him into another embrace. **"You need to get control of your emotions, if you keep this up..." **she couldn't finish the thought, it was one of those things she had warned him about and something she fervently hoped never happened.

"Sorry," the Ookami Hanyou took several deep breaths and pushed, using a special meditation exercise Akane had taught him to release anger and bloodlust so it wouldn't affect him. He began to slowly release the excess youki in his body, using it to keep his power and anger under control until it was all gone. Opening his eyes he sighed and said, "I just get so mad thinking about people who could actually enslave other's, who could rape and pillage and plunder without even a hint of remorse."

"**I know,"** Akane kissed the nape of his neck. She did know how he felt, having lived inside of the seal for all twelve years of Naruto's life she had felt much of what he did. His biggest hatred were of people who used other's for selfish and evil purposes, with rapists and slavery being at the top of that list. During his time raiding bandit camps and during the war he had seen many acts of these crimes, several times he had saved women from being raped and several other times he had been unable to save them before they were violated. It had left it's mark on the blond, and was now the single most thing he truly despised.

"**Even though it upsets you, you can't let it get to you like this,"** Akane said in a chiding tone. **"Your not human anym****ore, your emotions affect everything, and if you feel intense and dark emotions like this,"** She shook her head, **"nothing good can come of it."**

"I know," Naruto sighed, they stayed like that for a minute or two before he turned around her Akane's embrace. He placed one arm on the small of her back and used the other to tilt her head up, the blond leaned in while Akane stood up on her tip toes and they brought their mouths together in a soft kiss. When they pulled back he opened his eyes and looked into his mate's ruby red orbs. "Thank you," he said with a small smile.

A grin made it's way to Akane's face, **"you know there's no need to thank me handsome. But if you really want to how about after this is over with you show me just how much you love me?"**

"Page number 107?" asked Naruto with a grin, getting Akane's eyebrow to twitch before she squeezed him hard enough that his ribs would have cracked were he human. Not that it mattered anyways since the moment she did that Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced with a log. The red haired demoness blinked several times before a whistle caught her attention. Looking near the stairs she saw Naruto blow her a kiss before heading down.

"**Damn it Naruto-kun! Get back here!" **she threw the log away and chased him down the stairs, and out the door. The pair of demonic ninja jumped onto the rooftops and made their way to the meeting point, one of them laughing and the other screaming expletives. It was just as Naruto landed on the ground that Akane threw herself at him, tackling him to the ground and causing them to roll several feet before coming to a stop with her on top. She gave him one of those smiles that were so sweat it made it shiver, in fear, not pleasure. **"You know I'm going to have to punish you for that, Naru-kun,"** her tone had that dangerously sweat note to it as well.

Naruto steeled himself and grinned, "are you gonna get out the whip...mistress?"

Akane growled at him, **"****I'm gonna get out a can of ass whooping and -"** she didn't get a chance to finish as a cough caught there attention.

Looking up, they both saw Anko standing there with her eyebrows twitching. "I hope you two are ready to leave," she said in a voice that sounded like a question but was really an order. The two hopped off the ground and dusted themselves off as if nothing had happened.

"Of course we're ready," Naruto said, scoffing a little. "What do you take us for? Rank amateurs?"

"Yes," Anko dead panned. She wondered how it was that her blond genin went from nearly psychotic to happy in just under thirty minutes. She concluded that he was insane.

"Now that hurt," Naruto said sniffing, he wiped a crocodile tear from his eyes.

Akane nodded her head in agreement, **"it really does Anko-chan. ****Just for that comment we're not going to have**** sex ****with**** you."**

Anko face-faulted before standing back up and glaring at the two of them, even though it was ineffective thanks to her blush. "Who said we were going to have sex! Huh!" Anko shouted at them.

"Calm down sensei," said Naruto with a small smirk, "your attracting a crowd."

Anko looked around and noticed that a lot of people were staring at her, the men with blushes and nose-bleeds and the women in disapproval. She rubbed the back of her head and laughed sheepishly before glaring at her two genin, "let's go before I feed you two to my snakes."

"**Oooh you have snakes?"** asked Akane, coming up Anko's left. **"That sounds so kinky, just think of all the fun you can have using those..."**

Naruto came up on the other side, "I wonder what you can do with them, I mean, snakes are pretty vairied in species. I'm sure they could be used for more than just whips and biting. Aren't they able to swallow an egg hole. Imagine what that mouth can do to you, and that tongue."

Anko grit her teeth as her blush reached new heights, "shut up, shut up right now!"

the two demonic ninja looked behind Anko and grinned, "_**Yes Mistress!"**_ they shouted in unison, getting another pitiful moan from Anko.

She was really beginning to regret becoming the jonin-sensei for these two.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The three ninja arrived at the city where the mission request had come from, a bustling metropolis that was a lot bigger than they had expected, sometime around noon. At Anko's suggestion the three had gotten rid of their forehead protectors, stowing them in their pouches and using a minor henge to transform their clothes into something more civilian.<p>

The moment the three of them walked into the city proper there entire countenance also changed. Their posture went from the straight, graceful movements that all experienced ninja had, to the slightly slouched and lethargic posture of a civilian who had traveled a long distance and was tired. A normal civilian or thug would never notice the difference, but someone who had experience and a keen eye would have seen the change.

Naruto and Akane were now walking hand in hand as they pretended to be a pair of "kids in love" as they stayed behind Anko and made wide eyes at all of the large buildings that towered over them. Despite this both of them were taking in everything, memorizing the layout as much as they could in case it proved useful. Anko had noticed how the two under her command had changed posture even before she did, and couldn't help but be impressed with their ability to blend in. she made a note of it and wondered what else the two were capable of.

The trio had stopped so Anko could make flirty with one of the guys she found walking along, this one happened to be with his wife, getting the man to get all goggle eyed and blushing as she asked for directions to the mayor's house. The moment he gave them the three ninja chuckled and began to walk off, they snickered even more when the man's wife smacked him hard enough that it echoed across the city.

"Not bad kaa-san," Naruto said, coming up with a believable roll for them to follow while in public.

Anko chuckled as she played along, "that's nothing sochi, just wait until you get older, then I'll teach you the secret to women."

"**I don't think it would be the same,"** Akane said, **"I mean, he can't piss them off by flirting with a dude, can he? And if he flirt's with other girls..."** she left the threat hanging in the air and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry Aka-chan," Naruto leaned over and kissed her cheek, getting "aw's" from some of the people they passed, mainly women in their middle ages, within the crowd who had seen it. "I'll only flirt with the girls that you flirt with," this comment got several face-faults from the surrounding civilians and a face-palm from Anko.

"**Goo****d,"** Akane said, sounding satisfied and smug.

The three of them soon stopped at a building that looked just as nondescript as the one next to it. Anko knocked on the door several times and stood back, they only waited a few moments before the door opened and a man with gray hair, squinted eyes and several worry lines appeared from within. "Yes?" he said, "can I help you three?"

"Yes sir," Anko said as she pulled out her Konoha forehead protector and discreetly showed it to him. "We were wondering if you could give us some information on the mission request you sent?"

"Ah yes," the man said, recognizing the symbol and what it meant. He opened the door further and moved out of the way, "please come in."

Naruto, Akane and Anko stepped in through the doorway and discreetly looked around, taking of the nice but plain house. The mayor led them into a sitting room where the four of them sat on a pair of couches, the ninja on one side and the old mayor on the other.

"Now how can I be of services, ninja-san?" asked the mayor.

"Well we've heard about the women in your village who are being taken," Anko started, "but we were hoping for more specific information. Like when the kidnappings took place and where."

The old mayor nodded, "the kidnappings only happened two days ago. This city has a total of three residential districts and one entertainment district with hotels and the like. The kidnappings happened in all three districts, twenty woman who live here and three who were visiting or passing through. We don't know for sure, but we have reason to believe that they all happened at the same time."

"Do you have a file or at least a list of names of the women who were kidnapped?" asked Anko.

"I only have files for the women who lived in the village, but I can get the names of the three women who were kidnapped in their hotel room," said the Mayor. He stood up and walked over to a book case on the left side of the room, this one held files that seemed to be cataloged by last initials. The old man grabbed several files that were at the end, making it obvious he had expected this question and set the files aside for when they got there. He returned a second later and handed them to Anko, "these are the files and names of the women kidnapped."

"Thank you," Anko said, "this should help."

She was about to stand up but Naruto had a question, "why doesn't this town have a samurai garrison? From it's size I figured it would have an outpost or guard protecting it."

"Normally you would be right," Anko said, bringing attention to her. "However this city is on the border of another country. If the Daimyo sent a garrison here it could be seen as an act of aggression being disguised as a garrison to protect the city." Like Konoha, the nation of Hi No Kuni preferred negotiation to war, this was just another way to show that pacifistic philosophy.

"The young lady is correct," the Mayor said, "do you have any other questions?"

"No," Naruto said, "I'm good."

The mayor nodded as Anko and the two "genin" stood up. "Thank you for your time Mayor," Anko said, "we'll be going now." The three were walked to the door and said their good byes to the mayor. "Ok," Anko turned to look at the demonic couple, "I want you two to make like tourists and scout out the city. If you see anything suspicious..."

"We'll inform you," Naruto finished, "don't worry sensei, we've got this." Taking Akane's hand he began walking down one of the streets while Anko went to find them a hotel.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>a young couple around the age of eighteen years old entered a small bar in the cities red light district. The first was a male who stood at about six foot five, with short black hair and black eyes, he was wearing a pair of nondescript clothing in earth tones. However, it was the woman that attracted the most attention. With luxurious red hair, perfect curves, large breasts and mile long legs, she was a perfect sight to all the men, and even a few of the women in the bar.<p>

The young man led the woman to a back table where they sat together, the women leaning into the man's side as he held her possessively. A few minutes after they sat down a waitress came over and took their orders.

The man sighed, "we've been at this for nearly two hours and still haven't found any sign of what we're looking for."

"**Cheer up Naruto-kun,"** the woman said with a smile, **"I'm sure something will pop up eventually. Something almost always does."**

"Yeah I guess," Naruto grunted. The waitress came back with a bottle of sake and two saucers. Naruto poured the sake into both saucers and took one of them, sipping on it as he channeled chakra into his ears. He let the conversations from the people in the bar wash over him, using his keen sense of hearing to pick out the different conversations around him and block out the others' it was an ability he had learned to do during his time raiding bandits, and had required a lot of practice. He stopped switching conversations when he heard one that sounded promising.

"Do we have the targets selected?"

"Yeah, ten of 'em this time."

"That's still quite a haul... hey, what about the red head over there?"

"The one with the guy? She's definitely a looker, we'll need to follow them so we know where to go."

"Then we get back to the boss tomorrow right?"

"Yep, we'll need to give him the map so he know's where the women are!"

"It's just two bad we can't sample the local cuisine ourselves."

"I know what you mean."

"**Naruto-kun,"** Akane tightened her arms around Naruto was beginning to shake in rage. **"Calm down," **tilting her head and moving up she planted a kiss on his face, then another, and another. It seemed to work as his breathing got under control and he relaxed. Of course, this also had the unintended side-affect of making him slightly horny.

Naruto lifted Akane's face so that he could kiss her, beginning a small make out session that lasted several minutes as they explored each others mouths with their tongues. However, Naruto's senses could also pick up the jealousy, arousal and lust from the people around him and was instantly turned off. "Come on," he said as he downed the last of his sake and stood, "let's get out of here."

The two left arm in arm, and several minutes after they left three men followed. They trailed the young couple as they walked down the street, turned left, went down three blocks and turned right. As the three men took the last right they stopped when they saw that no one was there. Not even a minute later they were knocked unconscious from a chop to the neck as Naruto and Akane appeared behind them.

"Their so lucky we need them alive right now," Naruto scowled as he none-too-gently grabbed all three of them by the hair and began to drag them to the hotel. Akane sighed as she cast one of her kitsune illusions to make it look like Naruto was "not" dragging three unconscious brutes behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Anko looked up from the hotel room she had rented just in time to see Naruto and Akane walk in. she was about to speak when three things happened, the door closed, three ugly looking goons appeared with their hair being tightly gripped by Naruto, and said ninja threw them none to gently at her feet.<p>

"Do I even want to know?" asked Anko as she got her voice back and looked at them.

"Those three are a part of the thugs who've been kidnapping women," Naruto said in a voice that made Anko shiver. It was the kind of voice that was dead, cold as glaciers and could probably freeze a volcano over.

"Well there certainly ugly enough," Anko joked, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. "So how do you know these three are a part of that group?" she asked and was given a word by word account of their dialogue, "ok, that conversation is definitely not going for them." She looked at Naruto and tried to decide what she should say.

However Naruto beat her too it, "I'm going to interrogate one of them." He grabbed the middle guy by his hair again and Anko was surprised the man didn't wake up as the blond dragged him out of the room. She was about to follow him when Akane laid a hand on her shoulder.

"**Don't,"** she said, **"Naruto needs to do this."**

"Why?" Anko blinked, "and why him? I'm the interrogation specialist."

Akane gave her a mirthless smile, **"because he's angry and if he ****doesn't get an outlet he's going explode. Besides, these are common goons, you don't need a specialist to make them squeal."**

Anko looked at her for a few seconds before nodding and sitting down, "I guess I can give the gaki a shot." She tossed the red head a glare, "but if your wrong..."

"**Don't worry,"** Akane waved off the purple-haired jonin's concern, **"you still have two more thugs to play with."**

Anko sweat dropped before looking at the two that were still lying on the floor, "I guess I do."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The first thing the man wondered when he woke up was, what the hell hit him? He had a pounding headache and it felt like someone had yanked out chunks of his hair. The second thing he had noticed was that his arms and legs were somehow bound to the floor, that or they had just gotten so heavy he couldn't move them. And the third thing he noticed were a pair of glowing blue eyes with black slits for pupils with a silver ring around the iris. Those eyes made him nearly flinch in fear but he managed to hold onto his bravado, barely.<p>

"Who the hell are you?" he asked in a loud yell.

His answer was to have a foot quite literally stomp a mud-hole in his stomach, causing him to gasp and puke out blood. "You don't get to answer the questions here," the man, whose eyes were the only thing visible said in a chilly voice. "Now, I'm going to give you two choices, the first, is you cooperate with me and tell me everything you know about your boss' operation, the location of his base, the number of people who work under him and anything else that I feel may be relevant. In return, I'll grant you a quick, painless death." The blue eyed man paused to let that sink in. "The second option is you don't cooperate; you will still tell me everything I want to know, but it will cause you untold amounts of suffering before you do, the only question is how much must you suffer before telling me."

When the thug was sure the blue eyed man was finished he began to laugh. It was more of the laugh of the damned, of a man who was in fear of his life and had nothing but false bravado. "What makes you think I'll tell you shit!" he asked, "how about you release me and I'll tell the boss to give you a quick death, eh?"

The glowing blue eyes of the man standing over him seemed to shine a little brighter. "I was hoping you would say that." The next thing he knew was the pain of something stabbing his left arm.

"W-What did you?"

"I've just injected a powerful poison into your system," the man said, the outline of his form shrugging. "It's actually more of a Nero-toxin than anything else. It has a special property that keeps anyone who has ingested it alive until either the anti-venom is delivered, or the one who ingests it dies of blood loss." Something else was than plugged into the man's other arm. Before he could ask a question blue eyes answered, "I just plugged in a medical IV that will be constantly feeding you blood so you won't die from that. Now tell me, everything!"

"Fuck you man! I'm not telling you shit!" the thug screeched.

"Very well," blue eyes said and suddenly the man screamed as he felt his a knife being taken to his stomach as he was slowly cut open, he could feel the blade as it made an incision from his chest to his lower abdominal muscles. As if that wasn't bad enough a hand was suddenly thrust inside of the opening, causing him to scream even more and louder. It was a good thing there were seals to keep these screams from being heard, or someone would have come running by now. Blue eyes gleamed violently as the man spoke, "did you know, there are twenty-two organs in the human body? Out of those only a few are truly vital to survival." The thug screamed as the man began pulling his intestinal track out of his stomach.

After several more minutes of this torture, where blue eyes continued to rummage around inside of the man's stomach, poking, prodding, squeezing and even puncturing several organs, the man cracked. "Alright!" said the thug, who had been screaming so long his voice was now horse, "I'll tell you...I'll tell you everything you want to know...just please, stop!"

The hand left and glowing blue eyes stared straight into his soul, "why don't we start by telling me where your boss' base is?"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Anko sighed as she sat on the bed and stared out at the window. It had been nearly an hour since Naruto had left and she was wondering if her decision to let him do an interrogation was a good one. The way he had looked told her he had done it before somewhere, though she couldn't for the life of her figure out where the gaki could have actually interrogated someone. She half-hoped it hadn't been one of the villagers.<p>

A shiver escaped her as she remembered the cold, merciless look she had seen in his eyes. They were not the eyes she had grown accustomed to on him, they were the eyes of a killer, someone who knew how to kill other's as easily as breathing. She couldn't help but think they didn't belong on Naruto.

Over a little ways away sat Akane, leaning on the arm of the couch she sat upon. She was keeping her mental link with Naruto open so she would know how his mental state was, and if need be so she could keep him from losing it. She wasn't too worried, she had seen this side before, usually when they were hunting bandits like they were now.

A few minutes later the door opened and Naruto walked in, one of his hands up to his wrist was covered in blood. The other hand was holding a scroll, one that he tossed to Anko. "I got all the information," he said as she opened the scroll. "Including their base of operations, number of enemies, a basic layout of the base itself, where they're keeping the women who are to be sold into slavery. I've also got a complete psyche analysis on the guy I interrogated and these other two in case we decide to infiltrate their base that way."

Anko blinked in surprise, "Wow... good job." Really, what more was there to say, despite this guy being a small time thug and not likely trained to resist interrogation, to get that much from anyone was good. She looked at the scroll and spotted the time the three were to return, "it says their returning tomorrow at noon, so we'll being our operation then. We'll use your method of henging into these three and infiltrating the base. Since we're starting tomorrow I want you two to get some rest."

Naruto nodded, "do you want me to dispose of those two?"

"Nah, I got it," she said, waving a hand dismissively. She received another nod and Naruto was about to leave when Anko stopped him again, "by the way, what did you do to guy after you finished interrogating him?" The blond turned back and gave her a "are you fucking serious?" kind of look, causing her to rub the back of her neck, "right, just checking."

The blond genin looked at her for a moment longer before nodding and leaving. "Geez, he can be pretty scary when he wants to," Anko said. She looked over at Akane, "aren't you going to follow him?"

Akane shook her head, **"not yet, he still needs to sort out everything. He gets like this sometimes."**

"This isn't the first time you've done this is it?" Anko asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Of course not," Akane said with a scoff, "didn't you read the report the old man gave you?"

"Er, well, not really, no," Anko blushed a bit, "I just sort of skimmed over it. I didn't really think there would be much about you two that would surprise me beyond the first few pages."

Akane sighed, **"well whatever. This isn't the first**** time we've done this, we've left Konoha several times in disguise and gone bandit hunting to gain experience."**

Anko was at once both impressed and a little put out that she didn't think of doing that when she was an academy student.

"**Well, Naruto should**** be done skulking,"** Akane stood up and made it towards the door. **"Good night **_**Anko-sensei." **_Anko shivered at the sensual undertone the red head used with her name. It was hard to believe she might have found a chick who was even weirder and more prone to embarrassing people with dirty talk and innuendo than she was.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto finished scrubbing the blood off of his hand and arm. As he was drying it off with a towel, he looked himself over in the mirror, staring at the reflection of his younger look. A few seconds later he turned the water back on and cupped his hands under the faucet, splashing some water on his face before drying that off with the towel as well.<p>

Hearing the door to the bedroom open he made his way out of the bathroom, where he found Akane walking inside, closing the door to the bedroom. She looked up at him with a smirk, **"done brooding now?"**

"I wasn't brooding," Naruto said with a bit of a scowl, "I was...thinking."

"**You mean skulking,"** Akane corrected as she walked over to him. She grinned as Naruto looked away, or at least, tried to look away. Akane had grabbed his face and prevented him from doing so, forcing him to look in to her eyes. **"I know how much you hate people like that,"** she said, referring to the thugs they had capture. **"But you need to at le****ast try and not let them get to you. I don't need you going insane on me."**

"I know," as they moved into a hug Naruto let his head rest on Akane's, he breathed deeply, taking in her scent and sighed. "I need to work on this, I think it's gotten worse since I became a Hanyou."

"**That's a very likely possibility,"** Akane agreed. **"Even though your youki is less potent than most demons, the fact that your only half demon makes it harder for you to control. Your youki is controlled by your instincts and de****sires, your emotions, so when you feel angry it increases that anger and attempts to control you using your anger."** She looked at him, **"So just be careful ok?"**

"I will," Naruto promised, smiling at the woman in his arms, "thank you."

Akane grinned at him, **"if you really want to thank me then why don't you do something for me."** She pressed herself against him and brought her lips to his ear, **"something I know we'll both enjoy."**

Naruto chuckled before sweeping the red head into his arms, "Akane-chan, I like the way you think."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The next day three thuggish looking men could be found walking through the forest. The one who was leading the way had greasy black hair, coal black eyes, a large hooked nose and ashen looking skin. He was wearing black pants and a gray long sleeve shirt.<p>

The one on his left was a guy with brown hair, steel-blue eyes that held a glassy look to them and was missing several teeth while the rest were stained yellow. His outfit consisted of brown pants and an off white and stained shirt.

The last one had blondish hair, green eyes and an abnormally large mouth. He was wearing a large black cloak that hid his body from the view of others.

The trio was starting to get angry at how long they had to walk, they had started early after breakfast this morning and judging from the way the sun was beginning to go down the three had been walking for nearly eight or nine hours. So they were thankful when they saw the base to the camp.

The base was actually pretty well-organized considering it belonged to a group of thugs and cutthroats. It was a series of decently crafted pitch tents sparsely populated in a circle that had a one kilometer radius, most of the tents were about thirty feet by thirty feet large with the one in the middle being about twice that size. There were about twenty tents in all, with small camp fires interspersed among them.

"Ah, there you three are," the thug who was standing guard at this side of the perimeter stepped in front of them. "We were beginning to think something had happened."

"We were about to head back here when we spotted another lass we felt would be good to add to our collection," the thug in front said. "It took a little longer since we were following her to see where she lived."

The man nodded, "well that's fine. Now just give us the password so we can let you in."

"Ah, c'mon Cō," said the man on the left, "we've given you the password every time we've come back."

"Doesn't matter Kean," said Cō, "you know how the boss gets when we don't follow proto – prote – procedure."

"What ever," Kean mumbled.

"Women," said the man in front.

"See that wasn't so hard," Cō said, stepping aside, "now you'll be wantin' to see the boss. Best not keep him waiting."

"Right." The three thugs moved inside the camp and walked towards the large center tent. Entering the first thing they noticed was the large man in front of them. He was very large, easily towering over them at around eight feet tall. He had a scraggly beard, brown hair and dark eyes. He was wearing a red vest with bandages wrapped around his arms, and several large metal bands around his biceps and wrist. On his left shoulder was a large skull and his right shoulder had spikes on it. He was wearing red pants, some kind of close toed shoes and a belt with a skull belt buckle. Attached to his back were two large swords.

"Ah, Nibara, Kean, Iōnin, your late," the giant of a man said in a raspy voice.

"We found another woman we felt you would want to collect and it took a little extra time," Kean said.

"Hmmm… that's fine than, but keep on schedule next time or you won't live to regret it," the man replied. "Do you have the map?"

"Yes, Twinblade-Sama," the one in front, Nibara, said as he handed over the map. The large man, known only as Twinblade took the map and unrolled it, looking it over for several minutes before nodding in apparent satisfaction.

"Very good," he rolled the map back up, "we'll be doing another raid tomorrow before we leave this area. You three are dismissed." The three quickly made their way outside as Twinblade turned to a large table with a mug of some kind of ale on it and set the map down.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Later that evening Kean opened his eyes and quietly slipped out of the bed he had been pretending to be asleep on. He flicked his wrist and a kunai phased into it, there was no puff of smoke, showing a level of chakra control most people never achieved. Another second later ten clones phased into existence, again there was no puff of smoke and it was completely silent, so silent none of the other men in the room woke up.<p>

Each of the clones and the original moved over to one of the beds, where the thugs who had been sober enough to move were now sleeping in. Quicker than the human eye could blink Kean and his clones ran their kunai across the sleeping men's throats. Eyes opened wide and mouths tried to scream in pain, but the only sounds that were emitted were a light gurgling as blood poured from the mouths and slash wounds on the throats. The last thing all of these men saw was the man known as Kean disappearing in a puff of smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal Naruto, whose eyes were staring at the corpse in front of him dispassionately. His Kage Bunshin soon dispelled, phasing out of existence instead of disappearing in smoke like usual and the whisker marked blond nodded to himself as he went over the memories.

Walking out of the tent he snuck his way towards another tent, slipping quietly inside. "I see you've already taken care of these guys," Naruto said quietly as he looked at Akane who was stretching her arms over her head. She just looked around her at all the thugs who had been killed in their sleep, a claw slash to the heart.

"**Did you expect anything less?"** she asked rhetorically, her voice also a quiet whisper. She walked over to him and stopped, **"we should probably find Anko, she should be finished with her batch by now."**

"No need," the two demonic ninja turned to see Anko stepping into the tent, "I'm already here."

"So what's the plan sensei?" asked Naruto.

"I'm going to continue taking out the goons while they sleep," Anko started, "Akane, I want you to head over to the tent where the women are being kept and secure them, and Naruto you will take on that Twinblade guy."

Naruto felt a small shiver of excitement as he grinned at the purple-haired jonin, "you got it sensei. This is going to be fun." The three split up to tackle their separate tasks.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The moment Naruto walked into the large tent that was supposed to hold Twinblade he knew something was off. That something came in the form of a whistling sound that had him rolling across the floor, planting a hand on the ground and pushing himself into a hand spring as he spun his body around one-hundred and eighty degrees. It was a good thing he had moved so fast because a large blade had been implanted into the ground with enough force to slice the hard rock buried underneath the dirt.<p>

"I thought there was something off about you three," Twinblade said as he pulled his blade from the ground. "So, a little child is trying to play ninja, eh? How…amusing."

Naruto chuckled, "glad to know you find this situation so funny, it's good, because that means at least you'll get to died happy." As an afterthought Naruto added, "after you tell me who you're working for of course."

"And what makes you think I'll tell you anything?" Twinblade sneered at the young man. "What makes you think I'm even working for anybody?"

"Don't fuck with me shit stain," Naruto said coldly as his mirthful blue eyes became glaciers. "I know that simple, lowlife scum like you would never have been able to come up with an operation like this. Stealing women, constantly moving from place to place so as not to get caught by the authorities, choosing a random pattern for the cities you attack. Someone like you could never have come up with a plan that complex on your own."

"Well, maybe there's more to the little child than I thought," Twinblade taunted. "Not that it matters if you've figured that out or not, cuz you're gonna die here!" The large man slashed down with both swords, his swing fast and powerful as he attempted to slice Naruto into three separate pieces.

It was not to be as Naruto slid his sword out of his sheath and blocked the attack, the only movement he made was due to the ground cracking under him. "I think you'll find, that you are the one who is going to die here," the blond said coldly. "And I will see to it that you suffer for every woman you have sold into slavery."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Akane frowned as she walked along the grounds of the camp, there were only a few fires going but no one could see her right now due to the Kitsune illusion she had on. It wasn't all that well known, but despite the amount of destructive power she had in her fox form, her true specialty had always lain in her mastery over fire and her ability to weave the most powerful illusions in the world. It was actually these two abilities that had given her the general idea that gave her the idea to create the sharingan.<p>

As she crept along Akane found herself stopping at a tent near the back of the camp, it was further away from the other's and the red head could hear crying coming from the inside. Female crying.

She used her ability to sense everything around her, letting her know that there were a total of thirty people inside the tent. Akane knew that twenty-three women had been stolen so that meant the other seven were the bandits guarding them. Once she had learned of all of the bandits locations in correlation with the women, the red head began channeling chakra to her left index finger. Her nail lengthened into a claw and she used it to cut a incision at waist height to the ground. Ducking, she slipped inside and smiled as she saw herself standing behind the first thug who was just a few feet away. Her first victim.

Akane stood up and walked over to the thug, stopping when she was right behind him. The red haired demoness reached out, grabbed the man's head and twisted. Thanks to the crying and praying women no one had heard the snapping of the bandit's neck, and the move was so quick that no one had even bothered to look over yet. Akane decided to make the first move, before the others were alerted to her presence.

Using her skill with illusions she cast a quick area wide one over the tent. Now, whenever someone looked over here all they would see was the bandit she had just killed standing there, looking bored. Her next illusion was on the twenty-three women, putting them to sleep so they would not be scarred when Akane killed these men. Her last illusion was on the bandits, making them think the women were not all lying on the ground, sleeping peacefully, or at least as peacefully as possible given the situation. With that done she made her next move.

Using speed that only another demon or her Naruto could possess, Akane appeared right in front of the thug on the other side. She had dropped her invisibility illusion and grinned when she saw the widening of his eyes. However, she didn't give him a chance to do or say anything as she plunged her knife-edged hand through his throat. A gurgling sound came from his mouth as she pulled out, letting him drop to the ground.

Spinning around she held out her arms, her hands curled in a set fists with only her middle and index fingers sticking out. She channeled youki through her arms and into her fingers, creating a fire whip that was as white as her Kitsune bi attack. Before the other goons even noticed one of their own dead she struck, slicing off the head of one bandit and cutting bisecting another. The head of the first fell off and rolled along the floor and the body jerked as it too hit the ground. The other thug had his body split in half diagonally, the upper half sliding off as the bottom half crumbled. Both attacks had completely cauterized the wound so there was no blood.

By this time the other three that were left alive had noticed that at least three, they were still under the illusion that the first one Akane killed wasn't dead, had just been killed. They reached for their assortment of poorly crafted weapons. But before they could pull them out Akane attacked them.

The first one she struck was to her left, he had just put a hand on his sword before his head was turned to ash as Akane shot a compressed Kitsune bi that hit him in the face. She didn't even look as his body fell, instead turning her attention to the second man who had pulled a hammer off of his back. She held up a hand that had taken on an L shape, her middle, ring, and pinky fingers were curled as if making a fist; while her index finger was pointed at the bandit and her thumb was sticking in the air.

"**Bang,"** a small blast of youki, with a radius the size of her index finger, shot from the tip. It hit the thug, piercing his heart as it went straight through him, blasted out the other side and continued on through the tent. She turned on the last thug, who was visibly shaking. Akane scrunched her nose in disgust as she smelt the scent of urine and shit as the man's bowels betrayed him, **"how pathetic."** She held out a hand, palm pointed towards the thug as a ball of intense white fire began to gather around it.

Seeing this the bandit tried to run away but Akane had no intention of letting him escape. **"Kitsune Bi: Hitama (Fox Fire: Fire Bullet)."** The ball of flame shot from her palm, speeding towards the man so quickly it looked like it had teleported. It struck the man in the back, who wasn't even given a chance to scream as he was burnt to ashes. **"You know, I d****on't usually say the name of my attacks, but that was kind of fun,"** Akane said to no one in particular, mainly because the only people left alive in the room besides her were currently asleep. **"Well, I guess I should wake these ladies up and inform them th****at the rescue crew has arrived,"** she sighed, **"Kami-Sama that sounded so corny."**

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"This is pathetic," Naruto murmured to himself as he continued dodging Twinblades attacks. The battle had been going on for a while now, mainly because Naruto simply hadn't decided to end it yet. The man he was facing had a decent amount of physical strength, nothing compared to a shinobi who could channel chakra to their limbs, but above the strength of your average thug. However his attacks were pitifully slow, he had no real style, preferring to just swing his blades like a maniac, and seemed to be tiring out fast.<p>

Case in point, Twinblade was currently slumped over, his swords pointed at the ground, panting as he tried to regain his breath. "Hold…still you," he said in between pants.

"Now why would I do that?" asked Naruto in a rhetorical fashion. He stalked up to the man with all the lethal grace of a predator who had cornered its prey and was moving in for the kill. Twinblade raised his swords again but the blond had decided to finish playing with him. In an action so quick the large man didn't even have time to blink, Naruto appeared right in front of him, leaving a after image of himself where he had been previously to waver out of existence like a ghost. Channeling Yamiton chakra through his blade the blond thrust his sword up, piercing Twinblade in the center of his chest, "Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Kagehyoushi (Uzumaki Secret Technique: Dark Release: Shadow Binding)!"

From where Ookami Hitokage had been stabbed, shadows burst out, wrapping around Twinblade in an ever expanding layer of darkness. It ended when only the man's head remained unwrapped and Naruto pulled his blade out of the man's chest.

Twinblade fell to the ground with a thud and Naruto moved to stand over him, pointing his sword at the man's throat. "Now," he said as his eyes began to change, the silver ring around the iris expanding to engulf everything but the pupil. "You will tell me who you're working for."

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p><span>Character Profile: Naruto Uzumaki<span>

titles/Nicknames: Naruto, Naru-kun(Akane), Naruto-kun(Sarutobi, and sometimes Akane), Uzumaki-Sama(Naruto), Arashi(Alias), Demon (Villagers), Kyuubi(Villagers), Brat(Villagers and ninja who hate him).

likes: Akane-chan, Ramen, Kenjutsu, Fūinjutsu, sex with Akane-chan, training, Itachi-Nii-San, making fun of the villagers in Konoha and the Civilian and Elder Council.

Dislikes: Sasuke, Sakura, the Civilian Council, The three elders, people who insult his Akane-chan.

Bio: a member of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto was born to Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. At a young age Naruto lived in an abusive orphanage before being kicked out at the age of four. For one year he lived on the streets, where he faced the full hate of the villagers and had been attacked several times. During one of those attacks Sarutobi, who had been looking for him when he tried to visit him in the orphanage found him, and rescued him. After hearing what happened the Hokage gave him an apartment and a monthly stipend for appliances and food.

During his first year in the apartment he was attacked once again, during his birthday, which was also the day of the Kyuubi Festival. It was at this time that he met Akane, the Kyuubi, who offered to train him. Since than his life has turned around for the better.

Characteristics: generally Naruto is a friendly if guarded person, he is never one to judge on first appearances alone. He tends to have an optimistic attitude and likes to take things in stride. Despite this Naruto does have a darker side and when it's brought out he tends to be cold and ruthless. Naruto is extremely intelligent, particularly in combat situations.

Famous Naruto Quotes:

"Do you seriously want to go through with this? I don't really care, but it must humiliating for you to get your ass kicked by someone a decade younger than you."

"Listen here you sanctimonious sack of shit! My name is Naruto Uzu-fucking-maki, the GREATEST ninja of all time and the one whose going to kick your ass!"

"I'm sorry, but the person you are talking to is not listening, please wait for the ass kicking your about to recieve before trying again."

"I've got a hot date with Akane-chan tonight, so just sit tight and I'll kick the crap out of you real quick-like."

"Do you enjoy listening to yourself talk? Because honestly, the only person you could be talking to is yourself, since I'm not listening."

"I don't know what you do when life gives you lemons. But when life gives ME lemons I get with Akane-chan and we make lemonade!"

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><p><strong>AN: Someone in a review said that they feel because I let people know Naruto, while pretty much god-like, will still have issues and will be fighting god-like enemies, that I'm bending over for my readers. First off, my plan was always to give Naruto a god-like antagonist, in case you didn't notice in chapter 13, Madara Uchiha, god-like extrordinare of Naruto Shippuden is nothing more than a puppet in this story. If someone is powerful enough to control Madara, than don't you think this guy would be pretty god-like. Not to mention who ever controlled Akane is still out there.**

**As for Naruto having weaknesses, it's like I'm going to do what most people do when they make a character godlike and than try to give him weaknesses to compensate. Like 'Oh my god it's the super-plant that is suppose to be deadly against half demons!' or the 'this evil space rock has the ability to suck away all of your demon powers! insert evil laugh here'. I'm not doing anything so stupid, Naruto will simply have a set of limitations. Everything, even demons have a weakness and Naruto will have a few of those, but it's not like it will be some kind of super dark secret that could spell his downfall if his enemies knew about it. I haven't bent over backwards for my readers, I always planned on Naruto having some form of weakness.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: ….Yeah I got nothing**

**Chapter 19: Gato**

**~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~**

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><p>It was around noon when the members of team twelve returned from their recent bandit infiltration and extermination mission. The moment they had gotten back to the village the three of them made it to the Hokage Mansion. After getting permission from the secretary, who seemed to take some extra time to sneer at Naruto and glare enviously at Akane, they entered the Hokage's office.<p>

"Reporting from our successful mission, Hokage-sama," Anko said.

"Very good, your report," said Sarutobi, silently noting that they did not do their usual entrance and all three were abnormally quiet.

"We arrived at the border city of Shuto-ri around 01200 hundred hours," Anko started. "Our first order of business was to see the mayor, where we gained information on the women that had been kidnapped. While I got us a hotel I had Akane and Naruto scout the area for any signs of the group that had done the kidnapping. They ended up capturing three men, who they overheard talking about their operation and mentioned Akane. After interrogating them we learned that their camp was based several dozen miles outside of the city. It was then that we planned to infiltrate the camp while using henge to disguise ourselves."

"We successfully infiltrated the base the next day and proceeded with our plan. I killed off all of the bandits while they slept. Meanwhile I had Akane free the women who were kidnapped and Naruto took out their leader."

It was here that Naruto stepped forward; feeling this part of the report should be his. "I defeated the leader relatively simply, a large guy called Twinblade and managed capture him. After a thorough interrogation I learned that he was working for someone else, apparently his job had been to capture women around the ages of nine to thirty-five and he would than send them to another location where they were… processed and sold into slavery."

There were several long seconds in which the people in the room watched as Naruto took deep, calming breaths as he visibly reigned in his anger.

"It seems the man he works for goes by the name of Gato," That name caused a startled look from Sarutobi and Anko – who had not been told that bit of information until – but they didn't speak as the blond continued. "The slave trade itself is not actually new, but it's only been recently introduced to Hi No Kuni. Twinblade and his men had actually been based at Tsuchi No Kuni (Land of Earth) and had cut a path through Taki No Kuni (Land of Waterfalls) before coming here."

Naruto reached into his back pouch and pulled out a scroll, walking up he set it on the table for Sarutobi to pick up. "I managed to get quite a bit of information on their operation," the blond stated. "This Gato apparently likes everything to be organized; he had Twinblade send regular reports with the women that were kidnapped, numbers, the city they were kidnapped in and any information that Twinblade felt was relevant."

Sarutobi looked through the information and his eyes subconsciously hardened. "Do you know who Gato is, Naruto-kun?" he asked, getting a head shake. "Gato is a very wealthy business man, a powerful shipping magnate. He founded a shipping company called Gato Company and is one of the leaders in the shipping and trade business."

"**Gato Company?"** Snorted Akane, **"how… unoriginal."**

"Hmm…" Sarutobi said, seemingly in agreement. He looked over the information before looking at the group of ninja, "it seems I'm going to have to send you three on a new mission."

The three ninja straightened upon hearing they had a new mission. Well, they would have straightened had they been anyone else. Naruto and Anko gained a set of grins that oddly looked very similar, though for different reasons. Naruto was hoping this new mission would be exciting, while Anko was hoping she would get to cut more people and drink their blood. Akane however, was pouting. She had been hoping they would get a few days off so that she and her mate could have a long several day sexathon. That she wouldn't get her sex was depressing.

"I received a mission report a little while ago from Kakashi Hatake of Team Seven," the old man started, shivering a little at the twin grins from Anko and Naruto, and paling at the look of utter loathing Akane was sending him. Coughing, he continued, "During the first day of their mission they ran into a pair of ninja known as the Oni No Doubou (Demon Brothers). Apparently, the client had lied, and what should have been a simple C rank mission turned into a B with the possibility of becoming an A rank mission." He looked at the three and noted they had some confusion in their eyes, "The reason I am telling you this is because a little while ago we learned through Konoha's spy network that Gato is currently basing himself out of Nami No Kuni, which is where Team Seven's mission is taking place."

"You are to go to Nami No Kuni and hook up with Team Seven; however, your mission will not be to aid them in their protection of the bridge builder Tazuna. Instead, you are to assassinate Gato and discover any other information you can about his business ventures, particularly anything that has to do with his slave smuggling ring." Sarutobi waved the scroll Naruto had given him, "I will give this information to the Daimyo and inform him of what we are doing. With the knowledge that Gato has been kidnapping citizens of Hi No Kuni we should be able to avoid any potential political problems that come from sending more ninja into foreign territory without a clear threat."

That had actually been the reason the Sandaime had not sent in the ANBU, the balance of power between nations was balanced on a finely honed edge. Any act that could be seen as aggressive towards another nation, particularly one that was neutral and had no shinobi or samurai presence like Nami No Kuni, could be seen as an act of aggression. If that happened the balance of power would tip and plunge the Elemental Nations into another Shinobi War.

With the new information that Naruto had acquired he could take it to the Daimyo, who in turn would take it to the other Daimyos, then they would take it to their countries shinobi village. This would let the other nations know that they were not invading Nami No Kuni, but exacting justice upon a greedy business man that had stolen citizens of their country, thus avoiding any form of retaliation from another hidden village.

"You are to leave right away," Sarutobi said, "take only enough time to repack more supplies and then leave. This mission is a B rank with the possibility of becoming an A-rank mission. Dismissed!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>The three had gotten packed very quickly and as soon as they checked out at the gate they took to the trees and began speeding towards Nami No Kuni. It didn't take very long to reach the shore that separated Nami No Kuni from the mainland; with the hellacious pace they set it had only taken about six hours. Anko had actually been surprised and pleased to see how well the two "genin" had kept up; since they had been going at speeds no Genin should be capable of. Then again they had also beaten her in combat, and she was a Jonin so labels didn't really apply to them.<p>

"Alright, we'll set up camp here," Anko said as they found themselves in a small clearing off the edge of the shore. "I want you to do begin…" she stopped and blinked as she saw Naruto and Akane already setting up camp. It wasn't much more than a large sleeping bag and a pan that Anko noticed was covered in seals. She also noticed Naruto had created eight kage bunshin and sent them out into the wild with a seal tag, probably some kind of detection seal. The purple-haired Jonin grumbled a little about Genin doing things before their sensei could order them around for a moment before moving over to the pair, who by now had unsealed some food and were cooking it on the pan…without a fire?

"How are you cooking that food?" asked Anko, watching the food sizzled and cooked.

"Seals," Naruto said, "I'm using a heating seal on the bottom of the pan to cook."

"Oh," Anko said, more for wanting to say something than actually having anything to say. It always amazed her to see some of the innovative seals that the blond had made. After dinner she said, "We're going to be taking shifts you three, Naruto, I want you to take first watch, then you'll wake up Akane, than Akane will wake up me. We'll each take three our shifts so we'll have nine hours of rest."

"Got it," said Naruto as he jumped into a tree and sat down while Anko got her own sleeping back out and crawled inside to sleep. He closed his eyes as he began taking in the sights and sounds of the forest and ocean, he hadn't been to the ocean since his time in Kiri, but he remembered it very clearly and was pleased to know this mission had taken him here. Who knows, maybe he'd be able to go to the beach.

"**If we plan on going to the beach perhaps I could get a nice sun tan,"** Naruto opened his eyes and grinned as Akane sat herself down next to him. She leaned against him and he wrapped an around her waist her waist in response, while her head made to rest on his shoulder. **"Though I would have to sunbathe nude, I don't want to get a tan line after all."**

Naruto snorted, "Then I'll have to make sure no one else is around but us. I would feel incredibly guilty for killing someone just because they started drooling over you."

"**Would you really?"** asked Akane with a smirk.

"No, not really," Naruto said with a straight face, "I'm pretty possessive you know. Sometimes I'm tempted to end the life of every single male in Konoha for simply looking at you." Akane's silent laughter caused him to grin as he shifted his body so that he was laying in such a way that his legs were dangling off either side. He leaned back and pulled his red haired lover/mate with him, letting her rest against his chest. "Not going to sleep?"

"**Do you honestly expect me to sleep without you in bed with me?"** she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually I expect you not to sleep when I'm in bed with you," he quipped back.

Akane grinned, **"I suppose you have a point, sleeps never really on my mind anyways. It's usually just the byproduct of us being so exhausted from our love making." **She lifted her head up and scooted close enough that their lips were nearly touching, **"I was planning on ****having some fun before the old man gave us this mission."**

Naruto kept a straight face, even though his lips tried to twitch themselves into a smirk, "Oh?"

"**Uh huh,"** Akane nodded her head as she smiled at him. **"But now that we're here, I got to thinking. I'****ve always loved nature, and I love you, so how much would I love it if I could somehow have the two in combination?"**

"I don't think I'd make a very good tree," Naruto said with a shrug. His answer was to receive a smack on the chest, "Ow, that hurt."

"**Well**** you deserved it,"** Akane said, sticking out her tongue, a tongue that was soon grasped by Naruto's mouth. A moan escaped her as he began to suck on it and Akane swung a leg over the branch, and then used her lower body strength to swing her legs up so that they were sitting on Naruto's thighs. The whiskered blond pulled her closer as he released her tongue and pushed his own into the red haired demoness's mouth. Akane's arms went around his neck and she began to grind her sex against his rapidly hardening member.

They began to pant as they continued making out. Both of them could feel themselves getting more and more aroused as their respective bodies rubbed against each other. As the pair continued to dry hump each other they could feel a growing heat in their loins and knew it wouldn't be long before they felt release. Just as they felt themselves climb to new heights, a voice interrupted them.

"FOR THE LOVE OF KAMI! WHY CAN'T YOU TWO EVER KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER!"

And then the moment was over and both demons began to feel very pissed off at their sensei for ruining the moment. **"Piss off you old hag! Just for ruining our moment, I'm not gonna let you join us in ****a ****sexual coma!"**

"WE WERE NEVER GONNA HAVE SEX IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"**Keep telling yourself that!"**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"Stop!" Naruto and Akane both stopped as Anko looked around the clearing with narrowed eyes, dropped down to the ground, and spread some of the dirt between her fingers. "There was a battle here just a day or two ago," the purple-haired Jonin stated.<p>

The two demonic ninja blinked. "How do you figure that?" asked Naruto.

"Do you see the pattern in this gravel?" asked Anko, pointing to the ground in front of her. Naruto and Akane both looked at the ground and saw that it had a very fine pattern imprinted in it; it looked like someone had taken a comb to it. They looked at the rest of the clearing and saw that all the gravel had it, and the trees had similar impressions as well. Seeing that the two noticed the pattern Anko continued, "That kind of pattern usually comes from water jutsu, thanks to the way the chakra moves while in water."

"So Kakashi had a battle here?" said Naruto in a questioning tone. "But the question is, with who?"

"That is the question," Anko said as she stood up. "Come on, there should be some kind of path to follow, at the very least there might be some footprints." Naruto and Akane nodded as they followed Anko in their search for anything that might indicate where Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven went.

After waking up this morning the three had tried to find some way to get across the canal, they hadn't been able to find passage since most of the people around there seemed to be deathly afraid of Gato. That had left them with water walking across the entire canal. It hadn't been that hard for Naruto or Akane, both had reserves larger than several Kages combined with Naruto at the moment having nearly sixty times more than Akane thanks to her loss of tails. But for Anko it had been slightly draining though not enough to stop her from working.

"**Found some footprints,"** Akane called out, gaining the attention of the other two who moved over to her. **"Four sets of them,"** she pointed to where four different sets of footprints were.

"There should be five," Anko said with a frown.

"**I think these two were carrying someone,"** Akane pointed a specific set of prints. **"These two prints have a deeper impression in them, too deep for someone with feet that small unless they were really fat. I bet the person we're missing was b****eing carried by them."**

"That seems like a sound enough theory," Anko said before sighing, "Not like we even have any other leads to go on. Let's go!" The three Konoha ninja all followed the tracks they had found near the sight of the battle, and soon found themselves looking upon a two story house. It looked decent enough if a little aged and rickety, but it was much better than the small town they had seen from afar when they first came here.

Knocking the three ninja waited several minutes until the door creaked open and a beautiful woman in her mid to late twenties with dark blue shoulder length hair and brown eyes looked out at them. "Yes?" asked the woman in a slightly tense voice. "Can I help you?"

"I believe so," Anko said, "We're looking for a man with silver hair, with a face mask and a headband over his head named Kakashi Hatake. He would be here with three gakis and a bridge builder named Tazuna."

"Why would you want to see them?" from the tone of the woman's voice it was obvious she was slightly frightened and likely thought they were some kind of enemies.

Anko did her best to reassure the woman, "We're Konoha Shinobi," she pointed to her headband, making the woman's eyes widen. "My name is Anko Mitarashi and the two behind me are my genin, Akane and Naruto Uzumaki."

"So you're here to help?"

"Yes, ma'am," the door opened to reveal the woman more full and they noted that her outfit consisted of a pink sweater, and a blue skirt.

"I apologize for seeming so suspicious," the woman said with a small smile that still held a small amount of tension in it. "My name is Tsunami, Tazuna's my father."

"No need to apologize," Anko said with an easy grin, "given what we've seen already your suspicion is not only warranted but a good thing. So is Kakashi in?"

"I believe he's out with his students," Tsunami replied, "he said something about training yesterday."

"I see, I guess we'll have to wait for him than," Anko mumbled.

"Why don't you three come in while you wait." Tsunami opened the door all the way and stepped aside, gesturing for them to enter. The three Konoha ninja gave the woman a thank you as they stepped into the house. It was fairly nice inside, with a cozy, lived in atmosphere. "Why don't you three find a spot to sit while I go make some tea?" the brunette suggested as she walked into another room.

Akane tugged on Naruto's hand and directed him over to the couch, pushing him onto it before sitting down in his lap. A little ways over, Anko shook her head as she saw the pair, before she too sat down herself. While they were sitting there waiting for Tsunami with the tea the door opened again, making the three of them turn their heads to see Kakashi walking in on a pair of crutches, with the same perverted book in his hands. He was giggling to himself and was just about to flip another page when his eyes spotted the trio and he looked up.

His one visible eye widened a bit as he blinked at them, as if he was not quite sure if the three were real or mere figments of his imagination. Finally he asked, "Anko?"

"Well hey there cyclops!" Anko said cheerily, "We were wondering where you went off to." She eyed him for a moment before whistling, "You look like shit."

"Gee thanks," Kakashi said with only a hint of sarcasm in his lazy voice. He walked further into the room and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the one Anko was sitting on. "And these two must be your students," Kakashi said, turning an eye smile on Naruto and Akane. "You know you two caused quite a stir amongst the Jonin-senseis?"

"Did we?" asked Naruto with a happy smile, "It's so good to know we're making waves."

"**Is that Ich Icha?" **asked Akane curiously, completely changing the subject as her eyes landed on the book.

Kakashi's lone eye blinked before he eye smiled, "Why yes it is. Are you a fan?"

Akane gave him a cheerful grin, **"****O****f course we are! Naru-kun and I bought the books a while ago, their very useful."** Kakashi gave several pleased nods at finding a female who finally understood the value of Icha Icha. The red head's next words however, caused him to choke. **"I mean, this book has given us so many positions to try out during sex."**

"I-I see," Kakashi shook his head and tried to regain his composure, it would ruin his reputation of being completely nonchalant about everything. He was extremely grateful that he was wearing a mask so no one could see his blush. "Well that's...nice."

Anko smirked, pleased to see that Akane's talent worked on other people and not just her. However, her face turned serious as she was brought to more pressing matters, "We need to get a debriefing on what happened to you and your squad since you got here."

"Speaking of..." Naruto said, "Where is your squad?"

"Sasuke is out training, while Sakura and Sai are guarding the bridge builder," Kakashi said.

"**So ****you're**** just training the Uchiha ****while leaving the other two to fend for themselves?"** asked Akane with a frown. Now she didn't like Sakura, but that didn't mean she felt Kakashi not training the banshee was appropriate for a Jonin squad leader.

"Actually she finished the training I gave them," Kakashi said in his defense. "Both Sai and Sakura finished, Sasuke is still working on completing it."

"That's all well and good, but I still need your report," Anko said. In response to her Kakashi turned to Anko and shifted his mentality into a more mission oriented mode. His eye sharpened and his back straightened as he began to speak. He told them about the start of their mission, their encounter with the Akuma Brothers (Demon Brothers), learning of Gato and how they chose to continue their mission, all the way up to his battle with Zabuza Momochi and a fake hunter ninja who took away his body. Sometime during that explanation, Tsunami had come back in with tea and set it in front of Anko, Naruto and Akane before going back and getting another cup for Kakashi.

"...I can only conclude that Zabuza is in fact, still alive," Kakashi said, and just like that his posture slumped and his lone eye once again became lazy. It was so sudden that Naruto and Akane likened his ability to shift state of minds to flicking a switch.

Anko frowned as she went over what he said, "You know you should have turned back after your first attack."

"I know," Kakashi grimaced, "but Sasuke and Sakura were adamant on continuing. I didn't want to have to deal with them complaining the whole way back, only to have to deal with the council complaining upon our return."

"It's not like they could have gotten you in trouble," Naruto said, frowning a little. "Ojisan is the Hokage and even if they don't like it, they have no say in ninja affairs."

"That is true, but they can make your life a living hell," Kakashi said, Naruto couldn't help but agree, having already experienced the "hospitality" of the Council. Even Anko had to contain a grimace as she realized he was right.

"**Isn't Konoha supposed t****o be a ninja village?"** asked Akane. **"I thought Konoha was ruled by its Hokage, why does it have a council?"** It was something she had never understood, granted, she may have lived among humans and been to Konoha enough to times to know everything about it, but sometimes she just couldn't understand the actions of humans.

"The Konoha Council was originally created by the Nidaime Hokage to help ease the work load off the village leader," Kakashi answered. "It was designed so that the Hokage could focus on the more important aspects of the village while the council dealt with smaller issues."

"It doesn't seem to have worked that way," Naruto commented.

Kakashi shrugged, "It probably looked better on paper."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Later that day Kakashi's three genin came in along with Tazuna. The moment Sakura and Sasuke saw Naruto, sitting on the couch cuddled up to his girlfriend they scowled.<p>

"What the hell is the dobe doing here?" Sakura demanded to know.

"He's here on a mission of course!" Anko said cheerfully as she grinned at the pair. "Why else would he be here?"

"I'm here to keep your sorry pathetic ass from dying," Naruto said lightly, ignoring Anko for the moment. "The Hokage figured since you suck so much you may need some extra help.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't need any help Baka!" shouted Sakura, "Sasuke-kun is the best!"

"Now, now you two," Kakashi said chidingly as he flipped another page of his book. "These three are here on a different mission than we are," they had already informed him of their mission to assassinate Gato before his genin had barged in.

"Dinner's ready!" came the call from the kitchen.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair, Sakura and Sasuke were busy glaring at Naruto and Akane, Sai just sat there with a smile that made the two demons shiver, Kakashi was reading his porn and Anko just munched away on her food. Naruto and Akane were busy chatting in their minds, mainly talking about which positions they should try next from the Icha Icha series. Akane had also taken to rubbing her foot along Naruto's leg.

The family of three was also doing their thing; Tazuna, who the members of Team Twelve learned was the bridge builder was drinking some kind of terrible smelling sake, Tsunami was busy piling some food on her plate now that everyone else was served, and Inari, Tsunami's son, was brooding. He was brooding so badly in fact that Naruto thought he saw storm clouds hanging over the little kid's head.

_Just what we need._ The blond thought wryly, _another Sasuke._

"Hey Tazuna-san, what's with that picture on the wall over there?" asked Sakura, pointing to the picture of Tazuna and his family. "It looks like a piece is missing." Naruto and Akane looked behind them to see a picture with a torn corner; both wondered how someone with next to no observational abilities could have noticed that.

The ninja at the table all felt the shift in atmosphere; well, all except Sakura who was oblivious to such things. There was a sadness that hung in the air as the family of three all gained a depressed look.

"It's…my husband," Tsunami said after several minutes of tense silence, her voice sounding a little choked up.

"The man they called the hero of Nami," Tazuna added in a solemn tone.

Inari abruptly stood up after hearing that and ran up the stairs.

"Inari!" Tsunami said in a worried tone. The woman turned on her dad with an angry expression, "Father! You know you can't talk about that man in front of Inari!"

"What's wrong with Inari?" asked Sakura, still completely oblivious to what just happened.

"Inari…he lost someone he loved didn't he?" asked Naruto, the others turned to look at the blond who was staring at the picture. "That man…your husband was important to him right?" Akane already knew where his mind was going; she set her utensils down and wrapped an arm around his waist. The whisker marked blond smiled at her as he reciprocated the gesture.

"There seems to be some kind of story behind this…" Kakashi added. "Care to share?"

Tazuna sighed as he began to tell his tale. "Inari had a friend that he was real close to; a man who was a father in all but blood. They were very close, like a real father and son…Inari was always laughing and smiling back then…" Tazuna paused as he clenched his hands. "But Inari changed, since that incident with his father. The word courage has been stolen from the people of this land. And from Inari, ever since that day…because of that incident…"

"Eh?" said Anko, "Did something happen? What incident are you talking about?"

"Before I get to that, I first need to tell you about the man who was called the hero of Nami," Tazuna said. The shinobi all leaned in to hear the story, interested in knowing what happened.

"It was about three years ago that Inari met that man," Tazuna said. "Some bullies were picking on him, trying to steal the dog that Tsunami and I had gotten for him. After arguing they threw the dog into the lake, and then they pushed Inari into the lake as well."

"That's horrible!" gasped Sakura.

"_**Wow,"**_ Akane's voice rang out in Naruto's mind, _**"given how abusive she is, I d**__**idn't think she would feel any kind of sorrow for something like this."**_

Naruto snorted, _"__She's__ probably faking it."_

Tazuna ran a hand through his hair as he gave a sigh, "And it was worse because Inari couldn't swim. However, right then as Inari was drowning, Pooch remembered he could dog paddle. Inari almost drowned that day, however, a wandering fisherman managed to save him. His name was Kaiza, he was a fisherman who came here to follow his dreams. After that Kaiza and Inari became very close. It may have been because Inari's real father had died before he could get to know him, but he and Kaiza were inseparable, like a father and son. It was only a matter of time before Kaiza became a part of the family. And Kaiza was also a man the city needed. There was one time that the damn was overrun with water, and was going to flood the city. Kaiza had swum out to the damn by himself and closed it. Kaiza was called the hero of this city. And Inari could not have been prouder." Tazuna paused in his story as his face took a darker tone. "…But then Gato came to this city."

Tazuna grit his teeth and the more observant ninja in the room could see he was doing his best to remain objective. "Gato had Kaiza executed in front of everyone, including Inari."

A gasp was heard from Sakura, even Sasuke had his fists clenched in anger. Naruto and Akane looked at each other with identical expressions; they knew well what someone like Gato was capable of.

"From that day Inari changed, he stopped believing in heroes that day. The day the whole city lost hope…" Tazuna trailed off. The rest of the meal was quiet, even Sakura didn't speak as everyone finished. Tsunami grabbed the empty plates and took them to the kitchen to clean them, while the other's stood up.

"We only have one extra bedroom," Tazuna turned to Anko. "You guys will have to decide your sleeping arrangements."

"That's fine, thanks," Anko said as she looked at her two genin. "I won't be able to convince you two to share a room with Kakashi's brats will I?"

"**Nope!"** Akane responded cheerfully, **"there is no way I'm going to be sharing a room with pinky la shrew."**

While Sakura bristled at the insult Naruto added, "And I have no desire to share a room with the Emo King of Brood or the kid with the creepy smile that looks like he has a dildo shoved up his ass."

"Right," Anko said, ignoring the way Sasuke and Sakura were glaring at the two genin on her squad. She really didn't want to have to share a room with Kakashi, not only would he keep her up all night with his perverted giggling, but she didn't want him stripping her with his eyes while she was trying to sleep.

"**You could also join ****us ****Anko-**_**chan,**_**"** Akane said in a husky voice, **"I'm sure Naru-kun would love to share a bed with you as much as I would."**Anko began to blush heavily and Kakashi gave a perverted giggle. **"Who knows, maybe you'll even come to enjoy it and we'll let you join in on our...**_**festivities**_**."**

Anko began to sputter indignantly as she tried to get her voice back. Finally, "Damn it! How many times do I have to tell you I am not having sex with you two!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>The next morning Naruto, Anko and Akane got up early, it was decided that if they were going to kill off Gato than they would need more info on him. After having a quick breakfast the three stood outside of Tsunami's house. Anko looked at the two of them, "Ok kiddies, we need to gather intel on Gato. I want to know everything there is to know about this scumbag, where he lives, how many people he has under his command, and if possible a complete layout of his base of operations."<p>

"I want you two to head over to the town proper and scout out the area, get a feel for the people in the village," she told them. "We'll reconvene back here at 1600 hours."

"What are you going to be doing?" asked Naruto curiously, he didn't have any problem following her orders; it was standard procedure to get a feel for the people around you when you were going to infiltrate and or kill an important official. Even small details that were indirectly related to the target could prove helpful in completing a mission.

"I need to have a chat with Kakashi, then I'm going to try to find out where Zabuza's base is located." she said.

It was odd, normally when a superior officer gave orders you did not question them, you followed their orders to the best of your ability and did not ask questions. With these two Anko didn't really feel like their superior, they had only been on two missions together yet both already proved to be very competent and more than capable of taking charge if they felt it was required. Often times she felt more like these two were her partners, rather than subordinates.

"Just make sure you stay safe sensei," Naruto said.

"**Yeah,"** Akane smirked as the two began to walk off, **"we wouldn't want**** you dying before we had a threesome with you."**

"We are not having a kami damned threesome, damn it!" Anko shouted after them, only hearing their laughter as they left. "Damn that brat," she mumbled as she made to go back inside of the house.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"<strong>The place looks pretty bleak doesn't it?"<strong> asked Akane as she and Naruto looked into the village from their hiding spot in the tree. The city of Nami looked much more like a hovel than a city, the buildings were dilapidated and run down, there was rust growing on the metal and the wood of the structures were rotting. It certainly did not look like the prosperous fishing community it had been many years ago.

"It has seen better days," Naruto agreed, his mind wasn't really focused on the sight before him. Having seen Kiri during the war sights like this bothered him enough that if he paid attention, he was more than likely to go on a rampage against whoever did it. Instead he was thinking about the best way to gather the information they needed, "We'll need to blend in so we should probably disguise ourselves."

Akane seemed to agree with him and a ripple soon spread along their forms. In the next moment Naruto was an older man in his late fifties, with graying hair, drab, gray clothing and a pot belly. Akane was a woman in her mid-forties with brown eyes and hair that was beginning to gray.

"Ready?" she asked, her voice now older and holding a slightly ragged quality.

"Always," was the response as the two made their way into the town. The closer the demonic duo got, the worse the city began to look. By the time they had actually made their way into town Naruto saw how bad it really was, and was reminded of some of the towns he had seen during the Kiri Civil War. The only difference was none of these buildings were destroyed and gutted. Not that the difference changed how bad the place looked.

"_**Man when I said bleak, I didn't think it would be this bad."**_

Naruto frowned as he looked at a couple of children hidden in an alley, _"__I__t is pretty bad, esp__ecially considering there's no war going on here. What do you think the best way to get information would be?"_

"_**I think we should just move around and listen in on other people's conversations for now,"**_ a pause ensued in the pair's internal dialogue. _**"If we**__** go around asking questions about Gato, people will get suspicious. While it wouldn't be much of a problem in the long run, and we can easily take care of anything Gato has, it would be best if we keep to the shadows."**_

"_So act like ninja?"_

A giggle was heard in his mind, _**"**__**E**__**xactly."**_

The two of them walked around town for around an hour, listening in on whatever conversations they could find. They didn't get much; the people of Nami seemed to be so afraid most wouldn't even talk about Gato. However, they did find some useful knowledge. For one, it seemed that the business magnate had raised taxes in the area to unreasonable levels, those who could not pay or failed to pay were taken and never seen or heard from again. In most cases, the wife, a daughter or even both were taken away in order to pay for someone's lack of money. What Gato did with them was unknown, but both Naruto and Akane had a pretty good idea.

It was nearing sundown and when the two decided to return, however before they did the pairs sensitive hearing picked up the sound of shouting from the other side of the city. Looking at each other they both nodded and went into an abandoned alley. Their forms rippled and shimmered, revealing their child forms once again. Akane weaved a quick illusion over them to ensure they would be invisible to all but each other, than they jumped to the roofs and began making their way to the area of the shouts.

Thanks to the speed the two moved Naruto and Akane were able to get to the source of the shouting in just under a few seconds. Said source being two thuggish looking men, one of them was shirtless with a black hakama, and an eye patch on his right eye. His left shoulder was adorned with a vine tattoo pattern while he had barbed wire tattoos running down his arms. While the other was wearing a baggy gray jacket festooned with many pockets, a pair of black shorts and a black beanie on his head. Both of them were currently harassing a man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties who was currently holding young girl that could only be his daughter to him.

"Please, leave my daughter out of this!" the man pleaded.

"Sorry," the man in the beanie apologized; though from the tone of his voice it was obvious the man didn't mean it. "But you haven't been able to pay up; Gato says those who can't pay have to find other means. And since you don't seem to be able to get any money, well, your daughter will just have to make your payments up for you."

"NO!" the man shouted, "Please! You've already taken my wife! Please take anything but her!"

"Heh, who do you think you are?" asked the one wearing the eye patch. He kicked the man in the face, sending the man and his daughter to the ground, "You don't get to choose what we take! If we want to take your daughter than that's what we'll do! Now I'm asking nicely but if you aren't going to give her up," he partly unsheathed the blade at his side, "I'll just have to cut you up and take her."

Naruto grit his teeth at what he saw, the girl couldn't be older than nine. Looking around he noticed that everyone was more or less ignoring what was happening, meaning this had happened many times in the past.

"Akane," he said, his disuse of the normal "chan" suffix that he usually added to her name letting the red head know just how serious he was being. "I want you to put up an area-wide illusion, make it so that to everyone else those two end up killing the man and taking the daughter away."

Akane caught onto his plan rather quickly and nodded, **"Right."**

Concentrating her youki she began to weave the appropriate illusion over the entire area. When she was finished she looked at Naruto and nodded.

That was all he needed before moving into action. Before either of the two thugs even realized what was happening the blond Hanyou was right behind them. He placed a hand on each one's head and smashed them together, making sure to only use enough power to knock them out cold. As they crumbled Naruto looked at the two who were blinking in shock and smiled, "Don't worry about these two, I'll take care of them."

As Naruto hefted the two thugs over his shoulder, Akane jumped down and looked at the father-daughter pair, **"****Y****ou two are going to need to lay low for a while. I would recommend either finding ****another place to live, like with a friend, or moving entire****ly if you can. In any case, you have to make it seem like you've both been killed or captured."**

"What do you mean?" asked the man as he held his daughter to him. "Why do we have to do that? And who are you people?"

"We're ninja of Konoha," Naruto answered, "and you have to do what we tell you because Akane cast an illusion on everyone here. These people," he swept an arm out to encompass all of the people who were looking at them in shock and horror, no doubt from just seeing the man brutally "killed". "All believe that you were just killed by these two guys. You need to disappear in order to keep up the illusion so no one knows you guys really are alive. If you don't, Gato will find out and he will likely send more men after you."

He turned around and began walking, not waiting to see if they would listen to him. He had explained all he could to the man, now it was up to him.

Akane quickly caught up to him and began walking by his side. They made their way outside of the town, the two unconscious thugs still being carried over Naruto's shoulder, and no one else being the wiser thanks to the illusion Akane had cast to make them invisible again. Having never really seen his mate use her illusions all that much, mainly because she had only been out of the seal for two weeks and the one mission they had gone on they had been separated for the most part, he not been quite prepared by just how powerful the illusions were. Needless to say, he was impressed.

When they were about three miles out of the city and had reached a region of the island that was very thick with trees, Naruto dropped the two thugs. There was a small puff of smoke from Naruto's hand, signifying something had been unsealed. When the smoke cleared it revealed the young Hanyou had unsealed his specialized sealing brush.

He kicked the thug with the tattoo onto his stomach and knelt down, where he began writing a seal onto the back of the man's neck. Akane, who was peering over his shoulder, recognized the seal or seals, as it were, as a mind slave seal and a memory modification seal. Both were considered intermediate level seals, but to combine in a single array was considered an expert level skill. Not that she expected any less from her mate, he was a genius when it came to anything fuīnjutsu.

After putting the finishing touches on the seals Naruto stood up and resealed his brush, "there, now when they wake up they'll just think they got drunk and decided to get matching tattoos before passing out in the forest."

"**Bet the****y'****re gonna catch a lot of shit f****or that,"** Akane giggled, she could almost imagine what the other goons in their group would say when they told the story of how they got their "tattoos".

"Yep," Naruto smirked as a Kage Bunshin phased into existence next to him, disappeared in a puff of smoke the next second, and was replaced by a small fox kit. "Let's head back to Tazuna's now."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>When they arrived they arrived at Tazuna's they saw that Anko was already their sitting out by the lake and munching on a stick of dango. Both of them wondered how she had gotten it because the city didn't sell any and they were positive Tsunami didn't know how to make dango. The errant thought was shrugged off a moment later when they approached her and told them of their accomplishments for the day.<p>

"Nice job gakis!" Anko said, impressed with what they had accomplished. "Once your kage bunshin dispels we should be able to get a more accurate picture of Gato and his forces."

"Did you find anything about Zabuza?" asked Naruto as they all made their way back inside.

"No," Anko sounded a little disappointed when she said that, "unfortunately wherever Zabuza is, he's too well hidden."

"**He could be with Gato,"** Akane suggested.

"I doubt it," Anko said dismissively. "Gato isn't the type you trust to live with when you're working for him. Zabuza probably has his own little hide away somewhere."

"That's true," Naruto admitted.

"**So what do we do now?" **asked Akane.

"Wait," Anko shrugged. "It's about the only thing we can do."

With nothing left to do until Naruto's kage bunshin dispelled the three of them spent most of their time lounging around. Sai and Sakura were busy guarding the bridge builder, while Sasuke was still attempting to complete the tree climbing exercise. Naruto and Akane thought about going to make fun of him but decided it wasn't worth the effort and spent most of their time in…bed…exploring each other. At least until Anko shouted at them to keep it down and that they were scaring the kids. Or kid, as was the case with Inari who had heard them and managed to come out of his brooding long enough to ask why they were making all that noise.

By the time dinner had come around and they went downstairs the response they got was about what they had expected, Tsunami's eyes landed on them, only to look away with a fierce blush staining her cheeks; Anko was glaring at the pair with a lightly flushed face, she must be getting used to their habits by now, they would have to change that by acting even more provocatively from now on; Tazuna was looking at the two of them oddly, though he was also drunk and they doubted he was even thinking straight; Sai didn't even seem to be paying attention to them at all, instead he had a pen and paper out and seemed to be writing something; Sakura's face was as pink as her hair; Inari only spared them a passing glance before going back to his brooding; and Kakashi gave them one look before giggling.

"Did you two have a good time?" asked said Cyclops with a perverted giggle.

"**It was nice," **Akane responded as she and Naruto sat down, **"not as good as usual since we had to use a futon and couldn't push the springs of a good bed to their limits, but we made due." **Her response increased the blushes of the females in the area, causing them both to snicker. Kakashi actually had to blink in surprise as his words were turned around.

Dinner that night was a fairly quiet affair; no one really said anything as they all ate. It was about an hour into the meal when Sasuke, bloody, bruised scuffed up with several tears in his clothing acme in and slumped into his seat, smacking his head against the wooden table with a resounding and loud crack.

"SASUKE-KUN!" the screech, which was loud enough to rattle glass, caused everyone to wince and Naruto and Akane to hold their ears in pain. While Sakura went over and began to fuss over the battered raven haired Genin, much to said Genin's displeasure, the demonic couple had to clean out there ears and tried to stop the strange ringing.

"**Kami-****s****ama, pinky sure is loud,"** Akane complained. She looked over at Naruto, **"how do you deal with it?"**

"Ear plugs usually," Naruto replied, "unfortunately I don't have those at the moment."

Akane opened her mouth to speak but whatever she was going to say was cut off when a pair of hands slammed onto the table.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard!" shouted Inari, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "No matter what you do, you're no match for Gato's men! You all just sit here, laughing and playing around like everything's perfectly alright! But it's not!"

Everyone stopped and stared at the kid for several long seconds. Than Naruto snorted, "Wow, I had wondered if you were mute or not. Now that I've heard you actually talk, I kind of wish you were."

"NARUTO NO BAKA DON'T BE SO RUDE!" shouted Sakura, once again making everyone wince.

"Shut up Haruno," Naruto picked out his ear and frowned when he saw some blood in it, damn that girl had a set of lungs on her. "You're so annoying, I almost feel sorry for your teammates."

Sakura's face turned pink as she opened her mouth to shout, "YOU'RE THE ANNOY –" thankfully her loud shrieking was halted when Akane pelted her in the forehead with a rock she had grabbed for just such an occasion. There was another loud crack as the rock smashed into the girl's abnormally large forehead, not only splitting it open and causing a large spray of blood, but also sending the girl into blissful unconsciousness.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard? No matter how hard you train, you're no match for Gato's men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!"

"**Two points,"** Akane said with a grin, ignoring Inari's shouting.

"Nah," Naruto shook his head, "her forehead's too large a target, one point." Akane pouted and was about to argue with the blond.

However, it seemed Inari apparently didn't like being ignored, "See! This is exactly what I'm talking about! You people just come in and joke around, taking nothing seriously! You don't know how hard life is like! You have no idea how difficult things are here!"

Naruto stared at the kid, he stared at him for so long without blinking that Inari began to actually wilt under the glare.

"You done?" asked the blond, "Cuz if you are I would suggest you shut up while your ahead." Turning to Tsunami, Naruto offered a smile, "Thank you for dinner."

He stood up and made his way outside, stopping at the door only to say, "Before you flap those gums again I would suggest you get your facts straight. I know far more about pain than you do." Feeling there was nothing left that needed to be said the blond walked out of the house and into the forest.

A second later Akane sighed and stood up and said, **"I suggest you all not follow us."** Then she too walked out the door, leaving the rest of the people inside until Inari ran out the back.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Sitting in a cross legged pose, eyes closed, his sword on his lap and inhaling slow, calming breaths, Naruto reflected on what Inari had said. Truth be told he wasn't that angry at the child, after all, the boy was just that, a sheltered kid. He had never seen the horrors that Naruto had; the blond doubted that the boy had even been to the village in the past year or so. Naturally he wouldn't know that some people had it harder than others, and his suffering was nowhere near as bad as other people had it.<p>

Still, that didn't make what he said alright.

His thoughts were knocked off course as a set of hands began to massage his neck and shoulders.

"**Your tense,"** a soft, silken voice made itself known. Naruto smiled as his body began to relax under the ministrations of his mate. The hands slid forward and over his shoulder as Akane wrapped him up from behind, placing her head on his shoulder and pushing her chest into his back. Nothing was said as the two stayed that way for several long minutes, basking in the presence of each other's company.

"You know you're pretty good with your hands," Naruto said after a while.

While he could not see her face the whiskered blond knew Akane was smirking. **"That's not the only thing these hands can do,"** she quipped, stepping over the landmine Naruto had left for her. The smirk left a moment later as she looked at him, **"Are you alright?"**

"Yeah," Naruto sighed, "guess I just didn't want to be inside, that kid killed my mood easier than Sasuke could."

**(This is a warning! All minors please evacuate the chapter! Lemon approaching on the port side!)**

"**Well,"** Akane started as her hands moved down his chest, stopping where the buckle to his straps were and undoing them. **"Maybe I should help bring that mood back."**

Her hands traveled even lower before she reached the hem of his shirt, grabbed it and began to pull it up. Naruto raised his hands almost out of instinct as the shirt went over his head before moving off his body. Akane tossed the shirt away as her hands went back to roaming over his body.

Naruto's mind slowly went blank as he and Kyuubi began to experience bliss.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>A clone phased into existence and grumbled a little about lucky originals as it grabbed the scroll pouch and took out a scroll labeled camping. He tossed it to Naruto who caught it with one of his tails. It took a bit of work, but eventually Naruto managed to unseal his sleeping bag, then it took even more effort to actually get inside. Akane didn't help much as she kept trying to snuggle into him, which just made it harder for him to move.<p>

Still he did eventually manage to get both him and Akane inside of the sleeping bag. The two of them shifted to get comfortable, Naruto moved onto his side so that he was facing Akane who was also facing him. She scooted herself as close as physically possible so that her head was resting under his, she tangled their legs together and gave a soft moan when she felt his cock brush against her still sensitive lips.

"**I love you Naru-kun,"** Akane murmured, wrapping her arms around him.

"Love you too Akane-chan," Naruto smiled as he reciprocated her gesture and wrapped her in a tight embrace. As an afterthought both shifted back into their younger forms so no one would ask questions should they stumble upon them, right before they drifted into a peaceful sleep.

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><p><strong>Sorry this took so long to get out. Life has been getting distracting lately so I don't have as much time for my writing as I used to.<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I didn't mention this yet, but since my last chapter had another sex scene I feel it would be prudent to tell you. Sex will play an important role in Naruto and Akane's lives, there will be several sex scenes scattered throughout this story that will happen during important times in their lives as well as a lot of implied sex between the two. It is a natural process that is very important to human development, even more so since these two are demons and I liken anything demonic, vampiric, etc to sex. Sex, gore and violence... and sex.**

**Just figured I would tell you all that so if you don't like sex, you could stop reading before you get too far ahead.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20: Infiltration and Assassination<strong>

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The two thugs that had gotten their asses handed to them by the blond shinobi and his red-haired mate woke up only an hour after Naruto and Akane had left them. "Ugh..." the one with the rose tattoo groaned as he held his head, "what hit me." It felt like he had been hit with one of those trains that he had heard about one time up north. Blinking a few times, he tried to clear out both the headache and the blurriness to his eyes.<p>

He was seeing triple.

"I think we drank a little too much Waraji," said the man with the beanie. He blinked several times to clear the cobwebs and headache away before standing up. "Get up, we need to get back to base," he began to walk through the forest.

"Oi," Waraji stood and began walking as well, "wait up!"

As Waraji tried to catch up with his partner, he didn't even notice a small red fox following him.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was early in the morning and a figure was walking through the forest with a basket in hand. This person, whose face was a thing of beauty, with long raven hair, a friendly smile and compassionate, dark brown eyes was walked through the forest with a lightness in their step that no civilian could possibly produce. Humming a soft tune, the young figure moved deftly around a tree that had been blocking the path forward. They took a few steps into the clearing... and then stopped dead in their tracks, eyes widening to the point where it looked like the small orbs would roll out of their sockets.<p>

A large blush soon followed, spreading across this persons face. The scene before the young figure was one that the raven haired figure had never come across, nor expected to come across. Despite this, they knew from simple observation – as well as the fact that their most precious person kept a small orange book under his bed, which had a scene eerily similar to this one – exactly what had occurred in this clearing.

Clothes were strewn all throughout the clearing, a shirt was hanging from a tree branch several feet away, a pair of pants lay crumbled against the ground next to them, orange boxers were tossed aside. Eyes roved around before landing on a sleeping bag in the middle of the clearing with two figures snuggled together inside. While debating what to do the raven haired figure shifted their feet, then blinked when a rustling noise reached their ears. Curiously, the young figure lifted a foot, eyes traveling down, where a blush erupted on their face when they saw a red lace thong underneath them.

It took a moment to decide what to do, the raven haired person didn't want to be in an area where two people who had obviously just done the horizontal mambo were sleeping. Yet at the same time this was the only place with the herbs the brown eyed figure needed. In the end they moved further in, being careful not to step on any of the half-hazardly discarded clothes.

"I hope you have a good reason for interrupting my sleep." The raven haired persons eyes widened at hearing the male voice. Eyes turned towards the sleeping bag where a young blond was staring at the brown eyed figure with unblinking eyes. He raised an eyebrow, "well?"

"T-This is the only spot where I can find the h-herbs that I need to – to uh, h-heal my friend," the brown eyed figure said, stuttering only slightly. Aside from the fact that there were two naked people in the clearing, both extremely attractive no matter what your gender was, the stare that the blond was giving was penetrating.

"I see," Naruto said, closing his eyes for a moment before sighing. It was troublesome, but he couldn't just deny someone who needed to get herbs for their friend. "Could you hide behind a tree for a moment while I wake Akane-chan and we get dressed?"

"S-Sure," the raven haired figure let out a soft squeak before shooting over to a tree and moving behind it, where they crouched down and covered their eyes.

Grumbling a bit, Naruto turned his head to stare at Akane's still sleeping face. She looked peaceful, her eyes closed, mouth slightly parted in an expression that was almost too tempting to resist. The slow rise and fall of her luscious chest let him know she was still having a meeting with the sand man. Smiling he leaned in and woke her up the same way he woke her up every time he awoke before her. By kissing her and playing her breasts until the pleasure woke her up.

It worked like a charm, Akane moaned softly into his mouth, before she began to kiss him back. She rolled them over so that she was on top of him. Opening her mouth she felt his tongue snake into her mouth, caressing the underside of her tongue as it came out in an attempt to get inside of him. Tongues dueled, dancing a duet that was as old as man. They only broke apart for a moment, when air became a necessity, and even then the pair continued their engagement with intermittent pecks.

"**Mmm, morning Naru-kun,"** the red haired beauty mumbled against his lips.

"Morning Benihime," Naruto said, kissing her one more time before backing off, causing Akane to pout. "Sorry for waking you up so early and not giving you your morning satisfaction." It was something of a joke between the two, so far every morning since Akane had been out of the seal they would wake up and start where they left off the night before until both were thoroughly satisfied and ready to start the day. Akane had jokingly referred to it as their morning ritual.

"**Why can't you?"** asked Akane in that 'you'd better have a damn good reason or I'll kick your ass' kind of voice.

"Someone's waiting behind that tree over there to pick the herbs within this clearing," Naruto said.

"**Oh,"** Akane looked over at the tree, her nose finally picking up the scent of another person now that she wasn't engaged in her previous activity. She sighed and said, **"I suppose our morning sex can wait until after they leave." **Both Naruto and Akane snickered when they heard a squeak from the tree the blond had pointed to.

It was always so fun screwing with others.

Soon enough to two were dressed in a set of new clothes Naruto always kept on hand in a scroll, the sleeping bag was resealed and they had picked up their old clothes. "Alright! We're all dressed, you can come out now," Naruto called. The person from before did just that, walking out from behind the tree, face lit up like a red star, eyes meekly pointed at the ground. All this person needed to be Hinata would be the patented finger poke.

After several minutes of scrutinizing the person before them, Naruto had to ask, "you're a boy... right?"

The raven haired figure looked up with a gleam in their eye, embarrassment forgotten. "You can tell? You're the first one who was ever able to figure that out!" The two demonic ninja got the feeling that most people had a hard time guessing that the brown haired boy, was in fact, a boy. Judging from the tone in his voice this probably annoyed him to no end, though they both wondered why he was wearing pink if that were the case, since it didn't really help with his image of masculanity.

"Well since you met us, naked in a clearing at that," Naruto grinned and Akane giggled at seeing the boys blush return full force. "I believe introductions are in order. I'm Naruto Uzuamki, and this lovely vixen right here is Akane Uzumaki, my mate."

"Mate?" asked the brown eyed boy at the curious turn of phrase, shaking the hand that Naruto offered.

"We never went through any marriage ceremony," Naruto shrugged indifferently. Human matrimony didn't really matter to them. In fact, it meant less then dirt. "We don't really feel the need to and plan on spending the rest of our lives together. So I believe mate is the appropriate term." Akane smiled at the way Naruto said that, it was spoken without inflection, bravado, or any kind of bragging tone, meaning he truly wished to spend his life with hers. And they were both gonna live long, long lives.

"Makes sense I guess," the boy mumbled, before shaking his head and introducing himself, "I'm Haku."

"Nice to meet you," Naruto said, "you mentioned something about herbs?"

"Uh, yes," Haku said, as if just remembering why he was here. "I have a friend who injured himself while working, I was hoping to get some medical herbs to help him heal."

"**Mind if we help?"** asked Akane, smiling slightly.

Haku felt his face heat up at the sight of her beautiful smile. Akane had that effect on men.

"T-Thank you," he stuttered.

"**I'd be careful about staring at me too much though,"** Akane warned as she noticed his eyes were starting to drift across her body. It didn't bother her much, but... **"the last person who even glanced at my breasts received an enema from Naruto's blade."**

"I – my apologies," Haku stuttered, his face going from bright red to deathly pale. Gruesome images of the blond shoving a giant head cleaving blade up his ass passed through his mind and he, if possible, paled even more.

"No worries," Naruto waved his apologies off. "That guy was a prick, and I could tell he was stripping Akane-chan with his eyes, not just noticing her beauty like you were. Besides, if I hurt or killed every man that drooled over her, well." He chuckled a bit, as if remembering an inside joke. "There wouldn't be many men left in the world, would there?"

"Just the gay ones," Haku agreed, right before his eyes widened and he slapped a hand to his mouth in mortification.

"Hahahaha... I like you already," Naruto laughed heartily, a large grin on his face. After the initial pleasantries and teasing was over the three knelt down and began to pick out herbs from the ground. During this time Haku kept looking back and forth between the pair with a curious expression on his face.

"I was just wondering," he said at last, unable to contain his curiosity, "what are you two doing here?" Upon noticing their questioning looks he continued, "what I mean is, I've never seen either of you in town, so I know you two aren't from Nami No Kuni. So I was just wondering what you two were doing here."

"**We could say the same for you,"** Akane shot back. **"After all, those clothes are much cleaner then the rags the people who live in the city wear. Also, you don't quite have the same hopeless look as the others we've met."**

"I'm visiting my friend," Haku answered. "I had heard he was having a hard time here thanks to Gato and came to support him."

Naruto and Akane looked at each other for a second before shrugging. "We're actually just travelers, we had heard that Nami was rather prosperous and came here only to find it like, well, like this." Naruto sighed, "now Gato's pretty much made it impossible to get transport out of Nami so we can't leave anymore."

"And I guess the reason you two were in the forest was because you didn't want to get caught by Gato's thugs," Haku reasoned. It was a logical thought. If Gato goons saw two people with clothing like their's, they would natural assume the people were rich, then attempt to rough them up. One also had to consider the fact that Akane could make straight woman turn gay and gay men turn straight. There was no telling what Gato's men would do if they saw her.

"**Oh no,"** Akane said with a mischievous grin that Naruto recognized. Unfortunately, Haku didn't. **"We just came into this forest to have sex. You see, Naru-kun and I read this one book called Icha Icha and there's a scene where the hero has sex with a forest nymph. We were just reenacting that scene."**

Haku's reaction was priceless. His eyes widened to cosmic proportions, surpassing those of any the demonic pair had ever seen. The color of his face went straight from his porcelain pale skin to a megaton blush so red there were simply no words to truly describe it. Then he was blown back as a large geyser of blood blew out of his nose, forcing the pair to dodge out of the way so as not to get blood on their clothes.

They didn't like blood that didn't come from dead enemies getting on their clothing.

Meanwhile, Haki was sent sailing back, smacking head first into a tree hard enough to dent it.

It was a damn good thing for him that he had unconscious from blood loss long before he hit the tree.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Later that day Naruto's clone dispelled and the blond went to inform Anko of his kage bunshin's finding's. He found the purple-haired jonin in the kitchen, munching on some Dango and drinking some red bean soup. Naruto ignored the usual sight as he informed her of all of his clone's discoveries, bringing a grin to the woman's face.<p>

"This is perfect," she said, her mind already going over possible plans and strategies they could use to kill Gato and get out of this hell hole. Not to say the place was bad, but that damn Uchiha brat and the pink-haired harpy were really beginning to get on her nerves. "With this information we'll easily be able to infiltrate Gato's base of operations."

"What time will we head out?" asked Naruto as Anko stood up and stretched, a groan of satisfaction escaping her lips as her bones popped deliciously.

"We'll begin our operation at midnight," she decided after a moments thought. "If what you told me is true most of those fools guarding the fort will either be passed out or... _preoccupied_," the last word she spoke with distaste, and more then a hint of rage. "Let Akane know when our operation is."

"Got is," Naruto didn't feel the need to tell Anko that his mate knew what she said almost as soon as she said it. There was a .1 second time delay when relaying a conversation to each other via the seal.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"What do you mean they're going to assassinate Gato while we stay here!"<p>

It was dinner time now, and Naruto, Akane and Anko had spent the day preparing for their infiltration and assassination mission. Basically, this meant that Naruto and Akane spent their time together, exploring the forests of Nami no Kuni, skinny dipping in a small lake with a waterfall that they had found, and having sex in said lake. You know, doing the important things in life.

Of course, Anko had to inform Kakashi that their mission was a go, since Team Seven's job was closely intertwined with Team Twelves. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of saying they were going to kill off Gato in front of Sasuke.

Said boy was currently glaring at his sensei, Anko, Naruto, Akane and everyone else in the general vicinity as he pouted like a petulant child who had his favorite toy taken away. "I'm an Uchiha, an elite, there's no way some clanless loser and his whore could possible do as good as – URK!"

Sasuke's words were cut off as Naruto's forearm slammed into his throat, smacking against the wall hard enough to rattle his bones and then pinning him there. When his eyes were finally able to focus on something other then the stars spinning around them, they promptly wished the stars back. Glaring at him with rage induced eyes that looked like they could literally kill was none other then Naruto.

"Now you listen here you worthless sack of shit!" the blond Hanyou hissed as he unleashed his killing intent on the hapless boy, who felt like he was going to soil himself from the sheer amount Naruto unleashed upon him. A part of him was surprised he hadn't

Of course, this didn't sit well with one pink haired banshee.

"HOW DARE YOU TOUCH MY SASUK -"

"**Can it, pinky!"** Akane said as she, once again, flicked her finger with deadly accuracy. Sakura was sent souring through the dining room and smashed through a wall from the overpowered finger flick to the head. **"Whoops!" **Akane looked slightly sheepish as she looked at the now ruined wall. She had put a little more power behind that then needed. **"I'll pay for that wall."** everyone just sweat dropped at her.

With the pleasant distraction now gone, Naruto returned his attention to the kid who was beginning to turn purple due to a lack of oxygen. "As I was saying, if you ever, and I mean EVER! Call Akane-chan anything other than her name, I will make sure that the Uchiha clan will end with you!" Naruto gave Akane a mental prod who grinned and cast a simple, but very effective illusion over Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he was forced to watch firsthand what Naruto would do. Needless to say, getting castrated with a rusty kunia, some ninja wire and rubber duck was not something that looked all that pleasant. He would be having nightmares about that duck for years to come.

"Naruto, I think you've berated my student enough," Kakashi said with an eye-smile, hoping to diffuse the tension. Normally, he may have stopped the whiskered blond before he did something like this, but aside from the fact that all the jonin had been told by Sarutobi to never get on Naruto or Akane's bad side, he also didn't really like Sasuke. If he had not been more or less forced to pass this team, he wouldn't even be here.

"Fine," Naruto released Sasuke who slid down the wall until he landed on his butt. Finally, released from his imprisonment and realizing that he had just barely escaped a small brush with dead, the Uchiha heir released an intense shudder and – much his embarrassment and the disgust of everyone there – his bladder as well.

"Remember what I said Uchiha," he said before turning away, "let's get this mission started, I don't really feel like remaining with this trash any longer than I have to."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Three figures moved silently through the dark night, jumping through the trees as they made their way to Gato's compound. Their movements were so graceful and precise, one would likely mistake them for some kind of jungle predator. Soon, all three stopped as they reached the outer edge of the base where Gato had stationed himself.<p>

The compound was situated on the Eastern side of the island, which, was the side that faced the open ocean, in a small bay type inlet that provided shelter during the more treacherous whether. There were several cargo ships anchored in the bay harbor, and one large and rather luxurious looking private yacht. The yacht was likely Gato's personal vessel.

The compound was a mix between a military style fortress , like the ones he had seen in Kiri, with a high barbed wire fence running around the entire compound and four high watchtowers, one at each corner, and a high class mansion. There were eight large half cylinder buildings on the left side that Naruto assumed were barracks. At least his clone showed that most of the thugs came in and out of those buildings more periodically throughout the night then any of the other ones.

On the right was a large square, metal building that had a large sliding door. It was near the harbor, and his fox clone had seen the door opening several times during it's survey of the base to reveal large boxes, barrels, and cages full of women.

The last building was in the middle. It was a fairly large mansion, built from polished white stone, a large double door in the front, columns, and a tiled roof. Behind it was a patio and a large swimming pool. Considering that Gato had only been here a year, Naruto found it highly unlikely that he had this mansion built, feeling it was more probable that Gato had simply killed the Daimyo and taken the mansion as his own.

"From what Tazuna said this place used to be the Daimyo's residence before Gato killed him and his family," Anko said as they stared at the base. She shifted a little, her head moving left and right as she scanned the clearing.

"That would explain why one part looks like a mansion and the other looks like a makeshift base," Naruto said with narrowed eyes. "Still, his security leaves a lot to be desired." Said security consisted of several drunken men who didn't look like they were paying any attention to their duty. Most were sitting on their ass, a large bottle of alcohol in their hands. A few walked around the clearing, but from their slight stumbling it was obvious even they were at least somewhat sloshed.

This was why hiring your average thug for anything other then causing havoc was a terrible idea.

"Was your kage bunshin able to find out what was in those ships?" asked Anko, pointing towards the large cargo ships.

"Yes," a look of disgust crossed Naruto's face, "they were carrying several items. Meat and sake, no doubt for the men here. It also brought several large barrels of some kind that held a white, powdery substance, I suspect it was some kind of drug. And the ships also carried several...women."

"**So he's either trafficking his drug and slave trade from here, or those items are for him and his men,"** Akane concluded with a frown. She wondered how someone could operate like this right under everyone's nose. While Gato had only been entrenched in Nami no Kuni for a year, his business had been around for at least a decade, if not longer. That he had been able to get away with such a large scale black market operation without anyone finding out either spoke very highly of his skills, not likely, luck, or the general stupidity of the daimyo's of the various countries he had trafficked his drugs and slave trade through.

Akane was unsure which one it was, but decided to go with a combination of the latter two.

"Their likely for him and his men," Anko concluded, "there's no point in trafficking his less than legal business in Nami, not until he gets complete control of the country at least." Nami No Kuni used to be a major stopping point on the trade routes between Mizu No Kuni and the rest of the Elemental Nations, so unless Gato had complete control over it, there was no way he could hide his illegal business in the country.

She shook her head and focused on the mission at hand, "ok, kid, go over this with me again."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the kid remark but didn't comment. "Those half cylinder buildings are the barracks," he said, pointing over to the buildings in question. He looked at Anko, his lips drawn into a thin line. "You'll need to be careful, there are always several women in there at any given time. So when you killed the bastards in there, just be careful to kill the ones who are awake and… pleasing themselves first. Also, you'll want to make sure you don't kill any of the women by accident."

Anko scoffed, "who do you take me for kid?"

"**A chick with purple hair and a hot body,"** quipped Akane, getting a glare from said purple-haired woman in return. She just gave the woman a saucy smile and winked.

"Benihime, stop antagonizing her," Naruto chided lightly, while he would not deny that he loved watching the way his mate made Anko, as well as everyone else, squirm. Right now he knew that they needed to focus on the mission. With that knowledge he continued. "Now the large warehouse like building is where they keep their drugs and…sex slaves. They keep twelve guards in there at all times. However, their usually too busy playing with the women to be much of a threat. Still –"

"**I'll be careful Naru-kun,"** Akane said with a grin.

Naruto just nodded, "than I suppose it's time we start. I'll report to you, Anko, when I have all of Gato's assets, files and account numbers seized."

With nothing more that needed to be said the three ninja began their operation.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Akane grinned as she finished climbing up the watch tower, thanks to her illusions she was the only one who had a chance of sneaking somewhere and remaining completely invisible. She looked at the two thugs who were supposed to be watching for intruders, but were drinking instead. She sweat dropped.<p>

Scratch her previous statement, Naruto could have just walked up the tower and no one would be the wiser.

Both of the looked highly intoxicated, and the smell of alcohol was almost overpowering now that she was in the tower. She would have shaken her head in disgust at how undisciplined these goons were, but this just made her job easier. She didn't even bother to look as shot a small, highly compressed kitsune-bi the size of a finger nail at each of them, burning a whole straight through their heads. They fell to the floor with a thud, the smell of cauterized flesh mixing with the stench of alcohol.

Shaking her head, she sent a quick message via her mental link through the seal to Naruto as she climbed back down, letting him know she had just finished killing the last group in the towers.

As Akane dropped to the ground, she headed for the warehouse where the next stage of her mission was waiting.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Akane just finished with the guards," Naruto said, turning to Anko. He had told her that he and Akane had a seal on them that allowed them to communicate, so she knew that they could talk telepathically. Of course, he never mentioned which seal it was, just that there was a seal.<p>

"Then it's time we began our part," Anko said and stood up. The two of them took off in a burst of speed, with the people in the guard towers all dead there would be no one to tell they were there. Channeling chakra to their feet Naruto and Anko jumped into the air, over the fence, flipping as they did, before landing on their feet. They channeled chakra to cushion their fall, making the landing completely silent. Most of the thugs would be too drunk to hear them anyways, but they didn't feel like taking chances.

While Anko split off and headed for the barracks, Naruto headed towards the mansion. He saw a pair of guards, most likely the only ones that were not drunk, standing in front of the mansion. The blond swerved and changed course, he could kill the two easily enough, but if he did so right now it might alert others. He would leave them be for the moment.

Naruto moved along to the left side of the mansion before heading towards it again. As he was about to hit the wall he jumped, his feet stuck to the bottom using youki, and he began to scale the wall in a steady, but still silent run. If Gato was anything like all the other thugs he had killed, the man would probably be on the top floor.

The mansion had four stories, and when Naruto got to the fourth he crept along the wall until he found a window with a room that was empty. Crouching down and sticking out a finger that was glowing a light green with wind chakra surrounding it, he proceeded to cut his way through the thickened glass. He placed his hands on the glass and used youki to stick it to his hands, pulled the glass off, and walked through the whole he had made. When he was in the building he turned around and set the glass the way it had been, using one hand to keep it there while he used his other hand to fuse the glass back in place. He did this by using fire chakra instead of wind to melt the glass, leaving a small seam along the window.

"I may not be as good Akane-chan is with fire chakra but I can still do this," Naruto grinned. He turned back around just as several clones silently phased into existence. They already had orders to search the halls and rooms, killing any thugs they ran into and saving any women via their mental connection to Naruto when he made them. One of them quickly opened the door and they were all off.

The blond moved as well, his feet not making a sound as he stealthily roved down the halls. He withheld a snort when he noticed the gaudy and pompous decorations; expensive paintings, busts and various vases lined the walls. Thick red carpet went down the middle of the floor, and the walls were made of gleaming marble. The place screamed opulence, wealth, and arrogance. Naruto did his best to ignore the tacky decor as he continued moving.

When Naruto exited one hall he was forced to move back as he spotted two more guards standing in front of a large and gaudily decorated door. That was likely Gato's room. The guards inside were much cleaner than the ones he had seen outside, they were also sober and held themselves with a much more professional air. They were probably ronin,wandering samurai who had turned into swords for fire.

It took a moment to think of the best plan to kill them without sounding off an alarm. Looking around Naruto found that the hallways was ideal for his plan, there were a lot of shadows being cast by the red glow of the oil lamps placed strategically through out the area.

Naruto moved back against the wall, sinking into it. After the Bloodline Civil war in Kiri, Naruto had upped his training with his bloodline. His ability with darkness manipulation and light manipulation had reached new heights and he could now use his techniques at the barest minimum settings. What this meant was he didn't need more than a single shadow to use a Yamiton technique, and he didn't need any light to use a Hiton technique. In fact, some of his light based techniques were now more powerful in the dark. This also meant when he had more light or shadows his technique were much stronger, their power increased by a factor of two when he had more of each setting.

"Uzumaki Hijutsu: Yamiton: Ken'in Yomi!" both men felt their eyes widened as they suddenly found themselves wrapped in shadows. They were quickly pulled straight down through their own shadows on the floor, leaving no trace that they had ever been there. A moment later Naruto emerged from the shadows across the wall.

The door was the most ornate piece of crap he had ever seen, even more so now that he could see it up close. Made of a high quality wood, with intricate golden patterns on it, and cine-like inlays along the outer edge of the door with an ornate golden handle. The door was beautiful in it's own right. But it was done in the worst taste, it didn't blend into the rest of the house at all and looked like it had been planted here by Gato for no other reason than to show his wealth and power. Though since his thugs and the abused women were the only ones who would likely see it, Naruto had no clue who the man could actually impress with it.

Shaking his head, Naruto knelt down and looked at the keyhole in the handle, it was very similar, albeit a more complicated locking mechanism than the ones he had come across. He didn't think he could actually pick this one. Sighing he looked down and saw that there was no light coming from inside at all.

_That could work,_ he thought as he stuck his hands under the cracks of the door. Using his shadow walking technique Naruto melded with the shadows inside of the room and moved inside. He re-emerged on the other side in a crouched position and took a look around. It was dark, but his demonically enhanced eyesight allowed him to see everything within the room.

A large desk on his left with a window behind it overlooking the sea, a bed on his right and slightly in front of him, walk in closet on the far side, along with another door that Naruto assumed led to the bathroom. The place was just as ostentatious as the door.

Naruto made sure to remain hidden as he looked at the bed, sleeping on it was a short, fat man with graying hair wearing a night cap. This was most likely Gato. However, there was also another person in the bed, a woman who was as far away from Gato as physically possible without leaving the bed. She was silently shaking and Naruto could see tear stains on her cheeks. He had planned on killing Gato once he got what he wanted anyways, but seeing this woman just sealed his fate.

Naruto appeared right near the bed, grabbed Gato by the hair and yanked. The man was dragged into the air, giving a loud yell of pain as he did so, Naruto spun around on the balls of his feet, right before he let go.

Gato was sent flying to the other side of the room, hitting the wall. Before he could even fall down Naruto threw ten kunai at him, each one pinning him to the wall via his suit, leaving him stuck there.

"W-Who the hell are you!" Gato shouted, there wasn't even any bravado in his voice, just fear. It was clear that the man was already well aware of his situation. Having several kunai did that to a man. That was good.

"Who I am doesn't matter," Naruto said coldly. By this time the woman, a pretty woman in her late teens with light blond hair and green eyes had stopped pretending she was asleep and was staring at the scene before her in shock, surprise and a little bit of fear. Naruto walked over to her and knelt down so he was eye level, "are you alright?"

The woman's eyes were wide as she nodded, she seemed to be in a state of shock. Naruto sighed and a clone phased into existence beside him, "go with him, he'll protect you from any of Gato's bandits that are still alive." The woman didn't even think to question Naruto as she stood up and ran out with the clone.

"What do you think you're doing you piece of shit!" screamed Gato who was busy wiggling and trying to get out of his pinned against-the-wall position. It seemed he was trying to regain his bluster. An unsuccessful attempt in Naruto's opinion. "When my guards find you they'll -"

"Your guards are all dead, Gato," Naruto said in a voice that was so cold the business man actually wet himself. The blonds nose crinkled in distaste as he moved over to the man, pulling out all of the kunai from his business suit and letting him drop to the floor on his head. Before Gato could even get up to run away, Naruto grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face down on the desk.

"I'm going to kill you Gato," Naruto said in his cold, uncaring voice, sending chills down the man's spine. "But before I do, you are going to sign over the deeds to this estate, your business' and everything else that you own."

"I'm not giving you shit!" Gato screamed, though it wasn't so much a scream of defiance as it was of a man who was in fear of his life.

"Very well," Naruto grabbed one of the man's grubby, pig like hands and set it on the table, right before he stabbed Ookami Hitokage into it, pinning it there. Blood spurted out of the hand as it twitched and moved frantically, it almost looked like an animal that had been caught in a trap.

"KYAAAAA!"

Naruto blinked when he heard the completely and utterly unmanly squeal. He would have said that Gato screamed like a girl, but that would have been insulting females everywhere. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that he screamed like Sakura?

Naruto pulled the blade out, slowly, getting another, louder and longer squeal out of the man. The blond rolled his eyes as he listened to the fat midget, it was obvious he had never gone through any toughening up process before. This was likely the first time Gato had ever had to deal with people actually trying to kill him.

It took nearly ten minutes before the man could actually carry on a conversation again. "Please... please! I'll give you anything you want! Money, women, you name it!"

"Ah, negotiation," Naruto said, he had seen the people he interrogated do this tons of times. This was the part where they realized there was nothing they could do to save themselves, but still tried anyways. The denial phase, Akane had jokingly referred to it as.

Naruto just gave a pitying sigh, shaking his head back and forth very slowly. "Gato, Gato, Gato, you don't quite seem to understand yet. I am the one holding all the cards. You already know what I want, the only question is, how long will I have to make you suffer before I get it?"

Naruto pressed his blade against Gato's arm and began to cut along it, drawing a thin line of blood, and making the fat man freak out and begin squealing again. Stopping, Naruto said, "I can do this all day. I don't even have to draw blood to torture you. Did you know that the body is made up of ninety percent water? All it would take was a little lightning chakra and I could light you up like a Christmas tree. You wouldn't die, but it would be quite painful."

"Alright!" Gato shouted, tears streaming down his face. "Alright! Just no more! Please, no more! I... I just need the key in the bottom-left-hand drawer... it...its to my vault." Naruto got the key and then had Gato lead him to the vault, keeping the blade resting against the man's neck as they walked. A constant reminder of what would happen should he attempt to run.

The vault was in the basement, Naruto somewhat expected that. What he did not expect was the shear amount of riches that were piled high within the room. There were large bars of gold stacked up to the ceiling, piles of jewels, large wads of cash and coin, every form of money and riches imaginable was in this room. On one side, Naruto even saw a display case filled with weapons and armor.

Gato walked over to a filling cabinet and started pulling out piles of thick portfolios which Naruto created a kage bunshin to help him carry over to one of the nearby desks. The business man only hesitated for a moment, before Naruto drew some more blood from him with Hikage Ookami, and then he couldn't sign the deeds fast enough. It took the better part of two hours to complete all the paperwork, thanks to the sheer amount of business' the man had gained control of over the years. Naruto had made sure that he was using his true signature by comparing it to earlier ones, so he was confident that there wouldn't be any trouble.

When Gato had signed the last document he turned to plead to Naruto, but before he could even open his mouth Hikage Ookami flashed out as a streak of light and took his head. As the head rolled across the floor and the man's body began to fall to the ground, Naruto took out a blank scroll, unsealed his calligraphy brush, and wrote a containment seal. He then began sealing all of the documents inside of the scroll, before making four more scrolls and creating four clones.

He handed a blank scroll to each of the clones, "start sealing up all of these riches, I want you to be done by the time I get back."

"Ossu!" the clones said as the grabbed the scrolls and got to work. Naruto looked at the body of Gato, which was beginning to leave of puddle of blood on the floor, dispassionately. He snapped his fingers and the body lit up, burning to ash and erasing Gato from existence.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>when Naruto walked back outside, it was to find Akane and Anko standing before a large group of women. A little ways away some kage bunshin of Akane were making liberal use of her kitsune-bi to burn the bodies of the thugs they had killed to cinders. The blond walked over to Anko, who seemed to be trying... and failing, to comfort one of the women, one who couldn't be older than sixteen, there.<p>

"I think your just making it worse," Naruto said from behind Anko, getting said purple-haired jonin to turn and give him a slightly sheepish look.

"**That's what I said,"** Akane quipped as she gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek as a greeting. **"But she wouldn't listen and decided to give the girl the good old kunoichi pep talk."**

"Isn't that basically telling a girl 'you got raped get over it'?" asked Naruto curiously.

"**Pretty much,"** Akane said.

"Hey!" Anko shouted indignantly, "I was just trying to help!"

"**Trying, and failing,"** Akane shot back, making Anko puff up her cheeks and given an angry look that looked more cute than angry.

"How many women are there?" asked Naruto, heading off another one of his mate's teasing sessions.

"There are forty women," Anko stated, "including the ones from inside the mansion that your clones escorted out."

"What about where they're from?" asked Naruto.

"**There all from various countries of the Elemental Nations,"** Akane spoke up, having been the one who talked to the women the most. **"Some are from here, but most are from Hi No Kuni, Mizu No Kuni, apparently they were captured during the Civil War, and Umi No Kuni (Land of the Sea)."**

Naruto sighed and mumbled, "it will be difficult to try and find all of their families." Shaking his head he looked at Akane, "have they all been healed up?"

"**We did what we could. But you know neither of us are medics, we only used basic field medical procedures and bandaged them up. A few will likely need a contraceptive jutsu as well, but Anko can apply those." **She looked at him and knew what he was thinking, **"those who are from Nami, we can just escort back to their homes, but the ones that are out of country will likely need to stay here until either we can escort them, or someone else can."**

"Those were my thoughts," Naruto said.

"So than what should we do?" asked Anko who had been listening to the conversation.

Naruto frowned in thought, "Akane-chan, can you make a couple dozen kage bunshin?" When she gave him a "who the hell do you think you're talking to" look he rubbed the back of his head, "right, well, do so." Akane rolled her eyes and made three dozen kage bunshin. Naruto made a few of his own clones and turned to the women who were watching them with varying amounts of gratitude and wariness.

"Could I have your attention please. I would like all of you to follow the clones of Akane and myself, they'll show you to the unused and clean rooms in Gato's mansion for you to get some rest. Also, if any of you could volunteer to help them make some food for the rest of you, that would be greatly appreciate. I know all of you are weary, frightened and hurt. We're going to do our best to ensure that every one of you makes it back home safely to your families and loved ones. Just bare with us for now."

It took an hour to get everyone sorted, ten girls who had been wearing maid outfits, though given how skimpy and provocative they were they might as well have been naked, had volunteered to help Naruto and Akane's clones make some food for the rest. By the time everyone was settled in, the kage bunshin Naruto had created to seal all of Gato's riches had come out of the mansion and handed Naruto his scrolls.

"Well, now all we have to do is get back to Tazuna's and then we can get some sleep," Anko said with a large grin.

"Not quite sensei," Naruto chuckled a little, getting a curious stare from Anko. "Remember, Kakashi and his genin are at the bridge, Zabuza should be healed by now, and they don't know that Gato is dead."

"**Great,"** Akane groaned, **"so instead of getting to have hot, passionate sex with you. We have to go and save the emotionless wonder, Emo Mcbroody, and the Shrieking Banshee."**

"Sorry," Naruto said, giving her an apologetic smile. "But I wanted to, ahem, talk with Zabuza."

Akane looked at him for a second before she grinned, **"I should have figured that, huh? Well, let's get this over with. If I'm lucky we can still have sex afterwords."**

"Wait – what are we doing?" asked Anko, looking back and forth between the two members of her squad, confused.

Naruto smirked, "we're going to make a nice deal with Zabuza, one that he can't refuse."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It didn't take long for Naruto, Akane and Anko to reach the bridge where Kakashi and his genin squad were guarding the bridge builder. Gato's base of operations was only about fifteen minutes away from the group when tree hopping at the pace an average jonin would make, and so they made it in record time.<p>

However, when they got to the bridge it was to see the battle between Zabuza and Kakashi already under way. Anko couldn't see much, her eyes were not demonically enhanced like the other two, so all she could do was squint as she heard the clang of metal against metal. Naruto and Akane however, could see everything that was going on as clear as day. The scene before them was definitely odd, in all of their time together neither had really seen a scene quite like this.

On one side of bridge was a large dome of mirrors that looked like they were made of…ice? Yes, ice. Within that dome was Sasuke Uchiha, aka Emo Mcbrooder. Currently, young Sasuke was lying face down, looking like a pin cushion as several hundred senbon were pierced in every part of his body. He looked dead. The only reason Naruto and Akane knew he was, in fact, alive – much to their mutual disappointment – was because he was still producing light pheromones, which all humans produce when alive.

Sai was surprisingly still fighting, he was using some kind of ink beasts to attack. They were largely ineffective against the hunter-nin, but they served as a good distraction.

On the other side of the bridge was Zabuza and Kakashi battling it out, with Sakura and Tazuna several feet away. The battle looked to be something of a stalemate at the moment, Zabuza seemed unable to get any really good hits in on Kakashi, while Kakashi couldn't even see Zabuza.

"**So, what should we do?" **asked Akane, wondering what their game plan should be.

"I got this," Naruto stepped forward, no one had noticed them yet, but they would soon. "OI! ZABUZA!" The yell resounded across the bridge, halting both fights in their tracks as everyone turned and stared at the three people who had appeared on the bridge without them knowing.

"Naruto... Akane..." Haku mumbled, it was barely a whisper and just loud enough for Sai to hear. The emotionless boy filed away the knowledge that this hunter-nin knew them for the report he would give to Danzo.

"Who the hell is this brat?" wondered Zabuza while Kakashi stared at the group in surprise.

"I've got a present for ya!" Naruto lobbed the sack he had been carrying at Zabuza, who jumped back in case it was some kind of trap. It rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. Zabuza looked at it attentively, causing Naruto to chuckle. "It won't bite you know."

Naruto walked the rest of the way onto the bridge, where the main battle had been taking place. As he moved, his gait slow and steady, he sent a burst of wind chakra out and cleared away the mist, surprising Zabuza and Kakashi.

"Who the hell are you, brat?" growled Zabuza.

"I don't really think that matters right now," Naruto chuckled a little. "What does matter is that your battle with Kakashi is over."

"What?" Zabuza looked at the kid like he had grown several heads. "What makes you think I'll stop for some brat like you!"

"Well, I figured since you won't be getting paid anymore there's really no reason to fight," the blond shrugged and offered the larger swordsman a grin. "After all, Gato's dead," he than pointed at the bag and Zabuza only just now realized what was likely in the bag. Moving forward he grabbed the bag and opened it, finding the bloody head of Gato inside.

He growled as he realized that he had just done all of this fighting for nothing. And now the advantage he had was gone, with that kid here, whoever he was, he could no longer hide in the mist. There was also something about this kid that unnerved him a little, though he would never say that out loud. "I suppose this battle is now pointless," he growled, wondering if Kakashi would just let him leave.

However, Naruto had other plans.

"Not necessarily," the blond said, grinning cheekily at him. "I have a proposition for you Zabuza, a bet, if you will."

Zabuza eyed the boy warily, this kid had just come here, threw him the head of his employer and was now offering him some kind of proposition? Who the hell was this brat?

Something inside of him, call it instinct, decided to hear the kid out. "What kind of... bet?" he asked.

"The kind you'll like," Naruto replied as he pulled a scroll from his back and showed it to Zabuza. It was an average containment scroll, from what Zabuza could tell, but on the front was a seal was the kanji located on it. "Within this scroll is over ten million ryu," the eyes of everyone, with the sole exceptions of Akane, because she already knew that, Sai, because he had the emotional range of tea spoon, Sasuke, because he was still unconscious, and Sakura, mainly because she had just noticed said Uchiha was unconscious and was now crying over him, widened. "My bet is this, you and I will fight one on one, kenjutsu only. You win, and all of this money is yours."

Zabuza grinned at what he thought would be easy money. He hefted his sword on his shoulder, "and if you win?"

A smirk made it's way to Naruto's face as he grabbed the hilt of Ookami Hitokage, "than you and Haku come back with us to become Konoha ninja." The blond grinned as he saw Zabuza's eyes widen in shock, obviously he had not been expecting that kind of demand.

Still...

"At least you've got guts brat," Zabuza chuckled, there was no way this kid could beat him anyways. He might have some tricks up his sleeves like that wind thing he did, but a kenjutsu battle against one of the Kirishinobigatana Nananin Shu was suicidal. "Very well, I accept."

"Good," Naruto smirked as he slid down into the beginning stance of the Uzumaki clan's first kenjutsu form. For a moment all was still as the two warriors stared at each other. The tension in the air became palpable, so thick you probably couldn't cut it with a knife.

Then, they charged.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Kakashi's eyes widened as he listened to Naruto's proposition. What the hell was he thinking? Challenging Zabuza Momoichi to a kenjutsu match, it was the dumbest move anyone besides maybe Kisame Hoshigaki, another member of the Kirishinobigatana Nananin Shu could make. He had to stop this before Naruto lost his life.<p>

However, just as he was about to move two hands appeared on his shoulders. Turning he saw both Anko and Akane restraining him. "What are you two doing?" he hissed, "let go! We have to stop him before he gets killed!"

"**You need to have more faith in my mate, **_**Hatake-san,**_**"** Akane growled as she fed youki into her nails, lengthening and sharpening them so that they carved into the mans shoulder and drew a small amount of blood. When the man hissed in pain the red head added, **"do not think for one second that **_**my **_**mate would dare lose to anyone in a kenjutsu battle."**

"While I'm not as defensive of the brat, I think we should trust that the blond gaki knows what he's doing," Anko said.

This gained her an incredulous stare from Kakashi, "you mean your actually willing to let a "genin" fight against an A rank ninja!"

"Naruto has proven his strength to me," Anko said, shrugging. "I've seen him in action, and while I've never seen him fight against someone Zabiza's caliber, I have faith that he knows what he's doing." She noticed that Kakashi still looked like he was about to argue but she cut him off, "if it gets to the point that it looks like he's going to lose, than we'll step in."

Even with her reassurances this still didn't sit well with Kakashi, but since Naruto was her genin there was nothing he could actually do. He decided to watch, and when Naruto needed help he would step in and protect his sensei's son.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"You're not bad, brat," Zabuza commented as he and Naruto continued to trade strikes. After getting a taste for the larger mans combat style, Naruto had shifted gears to a more reactionary style. Zabuza tended to rely on slow, powerful swings. Of course, slow was a relative word, most ninja wouldn't be able to swing a standard ninja-to as fast as Zabuza could swing his zanbatou. But to Naruto, the attacks were relatively slow.<p>

"Why thank you," Naruto grinned as he redirected another swing of Zabuza's blade, tilting his sword at an angle that allowed the large Zanbatou to glance off the blonds blade with minimal effort. He moved in with his own strikes as a form of retaliation, each one coming in faster than the next. However, Zabuza managed to block them by bring his head cleaver back in and using the flat side of his zanbatou.

It wasn't long before he retaliated, pushing the blond's blade out of the way when he finally managed to lock the smaller one with his. His swings came in wide, sweeping archs that whistled loudly as they sliced through the air. The few that Naruto didn't outright dodge, were redirected with his blade through subtle movements of his wrists. The giant head cleaver slid off his blade several times, generating a hiss of sparks as steel clashed against steel.

When the series of attacks and counter attacks ended, both jumped back and eyed each other warily. They circled around the other, a pair of predators trying to find a weak spot within the others guard. When they came back in both used a series of hard, powerful blows to try and knock the other off balance. Sparks flew from their swords as the two blades clashed against each other in a battle that was as much a matter of will as it was skill.

So far neither seemed to have really landed a hit on the other, a few light scratches were on Zabuza's torso and Naruto's clothes had some cuts on them from a few close calls, but not much more then that. At the moment the pair of swordsmen were more or less feeling each other out, trying to find weaknesses in the other.

Zabuza thought he had found one when Naruto left his torso unguarded and wide open when he raised his blade above his head to help redirect a particularly vicious swing. That was when Zabuza chose to act, spinning around on the balls of his feet and sending a reverse heel kick to the blond Hanyou. Unfortunately for the missing-nin, Naruto had let his guard down on purpose. Just as the heel was about to make contact with his chest, the blond twisted his body in a way that seemed to defy gravity, bending the joints in his leg until he was parallel with the ground. After that he lashed out with an attack of his own, coming in from the left with a sweeping kick and hitting the side of the mans kneecap.

This resulted in a grunt of pain as the force of the blow spun Zabuza around, forcing him off balance. Another attack, Zabuza couldn't tell if it was a kick or punch, smacked him hard against the chest and he hit the ground hard. The Kiri missing-nin lay on his back, blinking as he tried to figure out what the hell just happened. He didn't have much time to think however, and his eyes widened as he saw the point of Naruto's black blade set to skewer him in the head. Rolling out of the way Zabuza pushed himself in a standing position, grabbing his blade on the way up.

A good thing too, for as soon as he stood the blond was already there, launching a series of fierce attacks at him. The attacks ranged from swift sword slashes and thrusts, to powerful blows that made Zabuza's bones rattle with each strike. It took a concerted effort to force the blond shinobi to back off, giving the missing-nin some breathing room.

"Damn... you're pretty good kid," Zabuza complimented. It wasn't often he complimented someone. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had complimented anyone for their skills in battle that was not mocking. Still, the blond was more than holding his own, and that was worthy of praise.

Naruto chuckled as he changed stances, "thanks, I guess. Your not bad yourself. However, now the real battle begins. Don't blink."

And just like that Naruto was gone, no kicked up dust or water to signify him pushing off the ground, no swirl of leaves or puff of smoke for a shunshin, just gone. It was as if the blond had just been erased from existence. It was only battled hardened instincts that saved Zabuza from getting his head sliced off.

CLANG!

"What the fuck!" shouted the missing-nin as he just barely got his sword up in time to block an attack from his left. He had to block another one from his right mere seconds after that, then from his left again, behind, in front, and left again. The attacks came in faster and faster, and Zabuza was finding it increasingly hard to defend himself, as shown by the several cuts from the strikes that were starting to get in. It wasn't long before he realized that he might actually lose this battle if he didn't think up something quick.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>"Holy shit!" Anko shouted as she watched the battle take place. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she watched Naruto turn up the heat and began turning Zabuza into a scratching post that looked like it had a bad encounter with Tora the demon cat. "I know I said I had faith in the gaki's abilities... but damn!"<p>

"I'm curious to know how he got so powerful," Kakashi mumbled, eying the smiling red haired beauty standing beside Anko.

"**Naru-kun's always had a powerful drive to become stronger,"** Akane said with a smile, she discreetly rubbed her thighs together, watching her mate battle never failed to turn her on. **"Ever since I met him he would push himself harder and harder, I actually couldn't come up with enough sadistic tor... I mean training exercises for him. Besides, this is a kenjutsu match, and Naru-kun's an Uzumaki."**

"Then that sword he's wielding is the famed Hitokage No Yaiba?" everyone turned at the question to see the masked hunter-nin looking at the battle. He really wanted to go help his master, but Zabuza would never forgive him if he entered a battle between two swordsman. It was one of Zabuza's few taboos.

"**Yes, it is,"** Akane said with a smirk.

"I've never heard of the Hitokage No Yaiba," said Anko, scratching the back of her head. "What is it?"

"It's the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan," Kakashi said, staring at Naruto with an intense gaze. Watching the blond reminded him of another Uzumaki he had once seen, a vivacious and lively woman with blood red hair and a fierce grin on her face, much like the one Naruto was wearing right now. A shudder went down his spine when he remembered sparring with said Uzumaki, and getting his ass so utterly handed to him it wasn't even funny. "A powerful chakra based bloodline that creates a sword made from the users soul. The Uzumaki clan was highly secretive of its bloodline, so very few people knew about it."

"**You seem to know more about it than most,"** Akane commented.

Kakashi didn't look at the red head as he continued watching the battle, "I knew another Uzumaki once."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Zabuza was panting heavily now, his arms felt like led, and he could barely even hold up his sword anymore. Cuts were littered across his body from Naruto's lightning fast strikes, more than a few of them were actually quite deep. He was beginning to feel light headed from all of the blood loss he had just suffered.<p>

"You lose Zabuza," Naruto said, Zabuza looked up at the sound of the blonds voice to see him pointing a sword to his throat. He grunted as he tried to lift his sword but found he couldn't.

He sighed, "I guess I do." Zabuza didn't particularly like admitting defeat, especially against some brat but there really wasn't much choice. "Fine brat, you win."

"Now don't be like that," Naruto chuckled as he re-sheathed his sword, "its not everyday you fight an Uzumaki."

"An Uzumaki?" Zabuza's eyes widened. He had been fighting an Uzumaki this whole time? No wonder he had lost.

"Well fuck," he mumbled as Naruto walked away, grinning as he heard Zabuza swear. He walked over to where the others were staring at him with shocked expressions. Well, everyone except Sai, again, emotional range of a tea spoon, and Akane, who looked like she was about to rip his pants off and take him right there on the bridge.

He grinned widely, "so I guess we're done here right?"

* * *

><p><strong>Another chapter complete...<strong>

**now...**

… **to sleep.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I... don't... own... Naruto...**

**There, I said it.**

**Whew!**

**Chapter 21: The Return Home**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Over the next week or so the members of Team Seven continued to guard Tazuna as he built his bridge; though Sasuke complained a lot about how pointless the job was since Gato was dead, as always Sakura agreed with her crush, much to the chagrin of Kakashi who told them to shut up or he wouldn't teach them anymore. It seemed to work as the two did their job after that, albeit reluctantly. The only member of Team Seven who didn't seem to have problems was Sai, who did his job quietly and efficiently.<p>

During that time Naruto and his kage bunshin's had gone over the documents, deeds and files that they had found in Gato's mansion. It was during his reading of said documents that the blond had come to one conclusion, Gato might have been able to bully his way to the top and had some business smarts, but he was completely lacking in common sense.

Not only did he keep the deeds and documents to every company he owned, both legal and illegal, with him at all times, he also wrote down the names of all the people who owed him favors, people he had black mail on, or people he had bought out with his money. The list held the names of high ranking members of several countries, including several people within the courts of the various Daimyos, including the Daimyo for Hi No Kuni. Naruto realized that was how the man's bandits had most likely been able to continue kidnapping women for their slave ring for so long without getting attacked. The amount of corruption made Naruto wonder how far people would go for money and power.

The other thing he had done was have a kage bunshin sit down with Tazuna and take care of the paperwork for the shipping company. Naruto felt that the people of Nami were the ones who deserved run of that company the most, not only because it would help them get back on their feet, but because Nami No Kuni had always been one of the more used trade routes for ships. As it turned out, the old man was actually pretty competent when it came to managing a business, having picked up a bit due to his work as a freelance Engineer.

Between the two of them they had been able to organize and write out a new plan for the company, which had been renamed Nami Fune Tsure (Nami Shipping Company). Now the company belonged to the people of Nami as a whole. The people would elect a manager and a board of Employees, a group of seven people including the manager that would be in charge of the direction the company took.

The job had required Tazuna to speak with his people and during that time it would not be surprising for ten or twenty other people to be inside of the small house. Eventually, everything was put into place and Tazuna, being one of the newly dubbed "Heroes of Nami" had been selected as Nami Fune Tsure's first manager.

After speaking about it with Akane and Anko, the three had decided to raid the safe house that Gato had set up in Nami. It had only been a mile or two away from Gato's mansion, and held even more jewels and money than the mansion itself. The members of Team Twelve had proceeded to raid the safe house and then gave the money away to the people of Nami so they could get back on their feet while the new company they had got started.

Feeling that the rest of the information on Gato's company and the people he had in his pocket could be useful, Naruto sealed it up inside of a seal on his inner thigh, which was covered with a powerful genjutsu seal to make it invisible. Thanks to his youki, not even the Byakugan or Sharingan would be able to see through the genjutsu. He created another file that held some of the information, enough to give Sarutobi to keep him occupied so that no one would think he was withholding information.

The stuff he had kept for himself were the deeds to several other businesses, a few of which were in Konoha and refused him access when the blond had tried purchasing necessities and supplies, the list of people in Gato's pocket outside of Hi No Kuni and half of the safe houses that had been set up within Hi No Kuni.

Haku and Zabuza had both been unsure of what to do during this time, having been so used to being not only on the run, but free to make their own choices they didn't know whether they should help everyone else, or keep to themselves.

Thankfully that particular problem was solved by Naruto and Akane who had taken to spending time with the two when they were not working. Anko would join occasionally, but because the red haired demoness still pestered the jonin about her sex life with Naruto, an action which caused severe blood loss from Zabuza and Haku, she usually hung out with Kakashi, at least when he wasn't with his brats, all of three of whom she couldn't stand.

Zabuza and Naruto had taken well to each other, both being skilled swordsmen the two would often be found sparring against each other. The Kiri missing-nin had been shocked and appalled that he had lost to someone who looked only twelve years old, Naruto had not told him about his status as a half demon, so the blond couldn't really fault the man for wondering if he had gotten rusty and just offered to spar until he got back up to par.

Haku had been another thing entirely, he still had trouble looking at Naruto and Akane without blushing. Of course they had not made the task of doing so easy, both had teased the boy mercilessly, telling him it was fine since he had not actually seen them. They also threatened him with castration if he actually did see anything, which had never ceased to make the boys red face go deathly pale.

Other then those small altercations, however, he got along with the duo quite well, they had even shared some of each others past with each other. Naruto and Akane learned that Haku had lived in a small village within Mizu No Kuni and his mother had been a member of the Yuki clan, a ninja clan that had been capable of using Hyōton (Ice Release) which was the ability to combine wind and water chakra to create ice jutsu.

Haku's mother had done her best to keep her ability a secret, knowing that, at the time, Kirigakure had an intense fear and hatred of bloodlines. However, Haku had discovered this ability and been so ecstatic he had shown it to her. She had been so fearful that she smacked him and told him to never use that ability again. Unfortunately, Haku's dad had also seen what he had done and formed a mob, they killed his mother and would have killed Haku too, had he not used his Hyōton manipulation to create several large ice spikes and kill his father and the rest of the mob.

After that he had traveled and was eventually discovered by Zabuza, who had decided to take him on as an apprentice.

In return Naruto and Akane told some stories of their own, they did not reveal as much as Haku had, not yet anyways. The two planned on telling their sensei the truth about their status soon, and would tell Haku then, but felt it best to keep it a secret until that time.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Are sure you three want to leave now?" asked Tazuna, it was the second week since Naruto and the others had come to Nami no Kuni. Well, since Team Twelve had come to Nami, and the group had decided that it was time to go home and report. "The bridge isn't even complete yet, and while I know there's no danger anymore I'd feel much safer with you guys than the cyclops and his brats."<p>

The man's words caused Naruto and Akane to snicker, while Anko coughed and tried not to laugh. When they got under control it was Naruto who said, "we don't have much choice. Our mission was to kill Gato, now that its complete we need to return and give our report. We need to be especially quick considering all the pies that greedy little midget had his hands in."

"**Isn't calling someone little and midget kind of redundant?" **asked Akane in a teasing voice.

Naruto shot her a glare, though there was no real malice behind it, "not for him, Akane-chan." He turned back to Tazuna, "anyways, it's also important because the Hokage will need to contact the Daimyo of Hi No Kuni to work out a way to escort all of the women from our country back home, and the Daimyo will have to contact the other Daimyo's for the same reason. It's going to take a lot of time and effort, but the sooner we get back the sooner they can get the ball rolling."

"We also have to escort Zabuza and Haku back as well," Anko added, having just finished her Dango she was now able to speak again. "They both agreed to become Konoha ninja and we need to get them registered, because Kiri is still out of contact with the rest of the world we need to make sure the two are entrenched enough in Konoha that if we ever do hear from them we can inform them that the two are no longer to be considered missing-nin."

It was a surprisingly common practice for one village to take in the missing ninja of another. Most ninja who abandon there village don't normally do so without a good reason, because they know that if they leave the village the hunter ninja will be after them. The few that do usually leave do so because of a conflict with their moral's, they're forced to do something they don't agree with and leave. Most end up joining another village so they can receive the protection that comes with being from a ninja village.

Tazuna sighed, "I suppose I understand. It will be a lot different without you guys here." That was a fact, between Naruto and Akane's antics, their teasing of Anko and the way they constantly use sexual innuendo in their talk had made the household very different. His daughter couldn't even look at the whiskered blond anymore without blushing.

"We may visit sometime so it's not like you won't ever see us again," Naruto said with a shrug. He blinked for a second as the older man held out a hand, before taking it in with a grin.

"You three – five," Tazuna corrected as he saw Zabuza and Haku coming down the stairs, "take care of yourselves."

"We will," Anko commented before grinning at her genin and the two others who were coming back with her. "Alright! It's time to get this show on the road, I want to be at least half way to Konoha by nightfall!" With a skip in her step she bounded out of the house, leaving the others to stare at her retreating back.

"Is she always this...excitable?" asked Haku with a sweat drop.

"Yes," Naruto nodded, "yes she is. You haven't spent enough time with her to know, but she's usually worse than this."

Haku raised an eyebrow as he and the other three that were traveling back to Konoha walked out the door, "worse than you and Akane-san?"

"**We're not that excitable,"** Akane said with a scoff, as if she were offended that Haku could even think about her and her mate like that. **"We just really, really like sex,"** both Haku and Zabuza stumbled a bit before righting themselves, one with a blush clear on his face and the other trying to hide how disgruntled he was that these two brats were having so much sex and he was getting nothing.

"Aren't you gakis too young to have sex?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to die, old enough to drink -"

"**Old enough to fuck like rabbits in heat!"** Akane finished Naruto's sentence.

Said blond glared at her, "thank you dear."

Akane blew him a kiss, **"your welcome honey."**

"OI! GET YOUR ASSES MOVING!" Anko's voice bellowed out from within the treeline.

"Coming!" Naruto and Akane shouted before they bounded off, the two missing-nin following behind them a moment later.

They weren't sure if coming to Konoha was such a good idea anymore, but at the very least, it had to be better than staying on the run.

If nothing else, the antics of the trio they found themselves in the company in were amusing.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>The trip back to Konoha hadn't taken very long, about three days all total. They could have gone faster but Naruto felt it would be better to slow down so he and Anko could give Zabuza and Haku a lowdown of what was likely to happen when they reached Konoha. True to form the moment the group of five stepped through the gate, a squad of ANBU appeared before them, all placing a hand on some kind of weapon as they surrounded Zabuza.<p>

"Whoa!" Anko held up her hands in an ease off gesture, "relax Kuma-san," she said to the bear masked ANBU who had the captains cloak on. "Zabuza's with us."

"What is an A rank missing-ninja doing here with you?" asked Kuma. It was hard to tell where he was looking thanks to the mask, all ANBU masks have a seal on them that make it impossible to see through the eye holes, they can see through them just fine, but you can't. Despite that, Naruto got the distinct impression he was glaring a hole into Zabuza's head.

"I'm here because my partner and I are sick and tired of running from the onin-ninja," Zabuza said, gesturing to Haku who, as always remained unfailingly polite and bowed to the ANBU before them as if they weren't pointing a bunch of sharp and pointy objects their way. "We were offered the chance to join Konoha and decided to take it." Naruto snorted at that, remembering exactly how he had "convinced" Zabuza to join the village.

The bear masked ANBU deliberated for several seconds before nodding, "very well, because of your status as an A rank missing ninja, however, myself and my squad will escort the five of you to Hokage-Sama."

Naruto didn't really think it was necessary, they had been traveling with the two for three days and Zabuza had taken his own watch shift and never did anything that would have harmed them. But he knew this was more or less protocol, or it would be if they ever got an A rank missing-ninja in their ranks. Most A ranks preferred not being tied down to a village because they were the ones that were good enough to evade the onin that were sent after them.

They made their way to the Hokage mansion and Naruto got a good show at seeing the reaction of people in the village when Zabuza, surrounded by the ANBU, strolled through. Most of the civilians didn't give more than a passing glance, curious, but not much else. They didn't know who Zabuza Momoichi was, and so they didn't really care.

However the ninja were an entirely different story. Those ninja who were off duty all stopped and stared at the famed Kirigakure No Oni (Demon of the Hidden Mist) in shock, a few had even stumbled and whirled around to get a second look.

Naruto chuckled, "it seems your pretty popular, ne Zabuza?"

"'Course I am gaki," Zabuza grunted in his gruff voice, "I'm the demon of the mist."

"Right, right," Naruto said. "We all know, you're a big bad demon."

"**Awww, I think he seems more like a puppy,"** Akane said, looking over at Haku, **"Or just a big stuffed teddy bear. What do you think, Haku-san?" **Haku coughed several times and flushed in embarrassment, unsure whether to laugh at Akane's jab at his sensei, or feel offended.

"Ha ha, you're a funny girl," Zabuza grumbled as they finally made it to the Hokage's office. The girl at the front looked at all of them in wonder and waved them in, after all, it wasn't every day that an entire squad of ANBU escorted someone to the Hokage. Kuma opened the door the rest of his squad, plus Naruto, Akane and Anko all entered before he himself went in as well.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting at his chair, as per usual, smoking his pipe and seemingly relaxed and uncaring about being face to face with the infamous Zabuza. Not that he had anything to fear. Zabuza knew that even if he could defeat the ANBU and team Twelve, the man sitting at the desk could kill him before he could blink. The Kiri Swordsmen respected very few people, but this man was one of them.

"What's up Ojisan!" Naruto greeted with a large grin as he stopped in front of the Hokage's desk, completely breaking the tension the ANBU all felt. Meanwhile Zabuza began hacking and coughing in shock at hearing the Kami No Shinobi being called old man. He was unsure whether he should laugh or feel horrified. The whiskered blond ignored all of it of course, "Did you miss me?"

Sarutobi chuckled at the blond, leave it to Naruto to be the one who destroyed the tension others felt with his uncaring attitude. Kami-Sama really broke the mold when she created him. "Its good to see you, Naruto-kun," he said in greeting. "It seems you have quite the story to tell," the old man looked over at Zabuza for a moment before turning to the genin team, "like, how you got the Kirigakure No Oni to come with you to Konoha."

The members of team Twelve, with a little help and correlation by Zabuza and Haku, spent the next hour or so filling Sarutobi in on their mission to kill Gato. From their first arrival to their infiltration mission to when they got to the bridge where Zabuza was fighting Kakashi. When they were finished the Sandaime Hokage looked at Naruto with a deadpan look.

"So let me get this straight," he said, "after getting to the bridge Naruto-kun challenged Zabuza to a kenjutsu match. If he won Zabuza would have to come with you and become a Konoha ninja, but if he lose he would have had to give away several million Ryu. Is that about right?"

"**Pretty much, yeah,"** Akane said with a devilish grin. Both she and Naruto smirked when they heard the two male ANBU that were surrounding Zabuza gulp.

The Sandaime shook his head, "only with you, Naruto-kun. Only you could possibly convince a member of the Kirishinobi Gatana Nananin Shu to become a Konoha ninja."

"I know," Naruto said, buffing his nails, "I'm awesome like that."

"Now that leaves the question of what to do with you two," Sarutobi said, looking over at Haku and Zabuza. "Haku-san is not a registered ninja, so he can become a Konoha shinobi right now, the report I was given leaves enough evidence to know that he is highly skilled and could most likely become a chunin of the village."

"Actually, we were hoping you'd let him join our squad," Naruto said, bringing attention back to himself. "As you know a two man squad can't take the Chunin Exams, we still need another member and we hoping Haku could be that member."

It only took a moment of deliberation for Sarutobi to agree with that proposal, "that makes sense. Very well, Haku-san will fill in the slot as the last member of team Twelve." Reaching into the left-hand drawer under his desk he pulled out the same form he had Akane fill out when she registered as a ninja. "Just fill out this form and give it back to me, I'll schedule a date for you to get your ninja ID and you'll be an official shinobi of Konoha."

Haku took the form with a bow, "thank you, Sandaime-Sama."

"Think nothing of it," Sarutobi waved the thanks off. As far as he was concerned, this boy was doing them a favor by joining his village. "Now, because Zabuza is listed in the bingo books it will be a little more complicated." He looked at the Kiri swordsmen, "I'm afraid you'll have to go through a ninety day probation period before I can let you join. I will also have to set up an appointment with one of my interrogation specialists to give you an interview. It won't be anything too strenuous, just standard questions to ensure you won't betray the village. It's standard protocol, you understand."

"That's fine," Zabuza sighed, there was no point in arguing over something trivial like that. He had given his word on his honor as a swordsmen that he would join Konoha, and if that meant he had to have a probation period than so be it. At least he would get the chance to rest and not have to worry about the onin coming after him.

"Very well," Sarutobi started again, "the last issue we have to deal with is deciding where you two are going to live."

"Already figured out Ojisan," Naruto said, "they can live in my apartment complex."

"That works," Sarutobi said, then paused. "Is there anything else that you all need to share with me?"

"Just one," Naruto channeled chakra into one of the containment seals on his wrist. A pop and a puff of smoke later he had a thick file in his hand. He set the file on the desk, "that contains all of the information on Gato's operations in Nami, including info on his slave trade, the people he had in his pocket and the names of the people working under him." As Sarutobi picked up the folder the blond continued, "you'll see when you get to the names of people he bought out or black mailed that he has a number of people within the Daimyo's court, so you may want to contact him with this information so he can either clean house, or use it for his own benefit."

Sarutobi's eyes scanned the information as he nodded, this would be a great boon towards cleaning out some of the corruption in Hi No Kuni's borders. "Thank you Naruto-kun," he said, "this information will prove very useful. You are all dismissed."

Naruto grinned as he turned to his two soon-to-be apartment mates, "well, let's get you two settled into your apartments."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Holy shit!" Naruto grinned at Zabuza and Haku , both of whom were currently gaping at their apartment. On the outside the apartment complex was very unassuming. It was well maintained, thanks to the illusion that Akane had placed over it and the various seals that Naruto had placed along the floor, walls and ceiling it was very clean and looked about as good as any other building in the neighborhood. But that was it, there didn't seem to be anything spectacular about it.<p>

However, the rooms in the apartment were, in a word, stunning. The room Naruto had given them looked much more like what they would expect to find on the inside of the Daimyo's palace. With dark red, beautiful looking carpet, soft cream colored walls and ceiling, beautifully crafted furniture and top of the line equipment the place was a dream come true. Especially for two people who had been on the run for several years.

"I'm glad you like it," Naruto's voice was full of mirth and Akane was snickering at the dumb struck looks of their companions faces. The blond gave them a moment to gape at their surroundings before he began his explanation of the room, "each room has been expanded with seals, the entire apartment is around an acre large give or take. There are two stories, four bedrooms and a guest room, four bathrooms, a training room, a library though that is empty until you fill it, a study, a kitchen and a living room."

The missing-nin and his apprentice both gave dumb nods and Naruto grinned, "as you can see everything is brand new, top quality equipment, I've lined every area with seals for comfort and the training room has Jiko-Shuuzou Fūiin (Self-Repairing Seals) on them, so you can abuse the area as much as you want and they'll repair themselves so long as you have enough chakra to power the seals." He paused for a moment in contemplation before shrugging, "we'll let you get settled down, in a few hours if either of you want we'll give you a tour of Konoha. Our room number is 201, c'mon Akane-chan."

The two demons left their new companions and headed to their own apartment room. As soon as they entered they released their forms, changing into their original forms. Naruto sighed in relief as his tails grew out of his back and his wolf ears popped back onto the top of his head, "kami, why do my tails feel so stiff?"

"**You're just not used to keeping your true form hidden for so long,"** Akane explained, **"your tails represent your power, so when their suppressed it feels unnatural. You'll get used to it eventually."**

"I hope so," Naruto muttered as the pair went up the stairs, towards the bedroom.

"**So what do you want to do now that we're back?"** asked Akane with a grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her chest against his back.

"Hmmm…" Naruto did his best to ignore the way her pressed were pressing against him, it was rather hard to do when her hardened nipples were rubbing against you. "I think I want to go and get some ramen."

Akane smacked him on the chest, hard.

"Ow!" he rubbed his chest in mock hurt.

"**That's what you want to do?" **Akane huffed, letting go of him and spinning the blond around. **"We just got back from a two week mission and you want to have ramen?"**

"Well, I haven't had Ichiraku's in a long time," Naruto defended himself, "two weeks in fact."

Akane's eye twitched, **"whatever. Fine, go get your ramen. I don't care what you do."**

"Don't be like that," Naruto said, "we had sex almost every day on our mission."

"**It's different than having sex in your own bed,"** Akane mumbled.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I think your just a nymph. Seriously Akane, you always want to have sex."

"**I do not!"** Akane crossed her arms under her breasts, pushing them up.

"Ok then, when was the last time you had a conversation in it that didn't mention the two of us having sex or was laced with innuendo?" asked Naruto. Akane opened her mouth to tell him when she paused. The last time she had said anything to him that did not have anything to do with sex was before Naruto had stumbled upon her bathing when he was eight… Naruto grinned when she turned red with embarrassment, "see my point?"

"**Fine, so I like sex,"** she admitted, **"are you saying you would rather eat ramen than screw my brains out?"**

As an answer to her question Naruto walked up to her, not even stopping his movement as he hooked one arm under her legs, the other around her shoulder and swept the red haired beauty off her feet. Akane didn't even get a chance to squeak as the blond leaned in and gave her one those soul shattering kisses that he had gotten so good at.

Akane moaned loudly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her toes curled and uncurled as tingles raced through her body and heat began to well up inside of her loins. When they parted she looked up at Naruto with half lidded, lust filled eyes to see a crooked grin on his face. **"So does that mean we're having sex?" **she asked.

Naruto's grin widened, "nope! We're going to get some ramen!" With that he dropped her on the bed and raced off, leaving Akane to stare after him with a dumbfounded look on her face.

A tic mark soon grew on her head as she jumped off after him,** "Naruto get your ass back here!"**

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><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Naruto grinned as he polished off another bowl of ramen, drinking all of the broth and setting the bowl back down. "I feel so much better," he sighed as he patted his stomach.<p>

"**I'm glad someone's feeling better,"** Akane mumbled in a depressed and angry voice as she stirred her bowl of ramen with her chopsticks.

"Aw, c'mon Akane-chan," the blond said as he looked over at his mate, "you're not still upset are you?" However, the red head just ignored him. Naruto sighed as he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his lap, eliciting a squawk of surprise and indignation.

"**Put me down!"** Akane commanded as Naruto's arms wrapped themselves firmly around her waist. **"Let go!"**

"You're so stubborn," Naruto mumbled as secured her arms to keep her from trying to hit him, something she had done in an effort to force him to let go. "Just because you didn't get your way, doesn't mean you have to act like a petulant child." Akane jumped huffed, though the whiskered shinobi was pleased to see she had stopped trying to get out of his grip.

"**Whatever,"** she mumbled, trying not to give in to her desire not to be mad at Naruto. It was difficult enough to do in the first place, and only became harder when he placed his lips at the base of her neck and kissed her.

"I'll make it up to you when we get home," Naruto whispered in her ear, making the red head feel a small shiver run down her spine. "Just don't be mad, ok?" he nuzzled into her neck, bringing a slight pink tint to her cheeks as a soft, breathy moan escaped from her mouth.

"C-could you two please not do that in here?" asked a stuttering and blushing Ayame.

"I have to agree with Ayame-san," Haku added with his own blush.

"I third that," Zabuza added gruffly, not that he actually cared what the two brats got up to, he just didn't want to see it.

"You two are just jealous because I can have sex with the sexiest woman you'll ever meet whenever I want," Naruto said with a smirk. Zabuza scowled slightly, even though no one could see it, while Haku just blushed even more.

"Or perhaps we just don't want to see you two getting all into each other," Haku shot back.

"Yeah," Ayame agreed, "haven't you two heard of public decency?"

"**No,"** Akane commented with a grin.

"Somehow, I should have figured that," Ayama said with a depressed sigh. "Now can you two please pick up a different conversation and not, well, do what you two are doing?"

"I suppose," Naruto said, setting his chin on Akane's shoulder. "I guess we should introduce the two with us…"

"Now he suggests doing that," Ayame muttered.

Naruto ignored her and said, "the pretty boy with the long hair is Haku." Said boy felt unsure whether to take the blonds words as a compliment or an insult, but didn't let it stop him from bowing his head at the girl. "And the one without the eyebrows is Zabuza."

"Disrespectful gaki," said eyebrow less man grumbled**.**

"Hello!" Ayame said to both of them, though Naruto and Akane noticed her eyes lingered on Haku longer than they did Zabuza. They stored the information away in the "tease Ayame" section of their minds for later perusal and use.

"**She's following you again,"** Akane suddenly commented, making the others look at her strangely.

"Who?" asked Naruto before he noticed the look she was giving him and sighed. "Ah, her," realizing who she was talking about. "I have no clue what I'm going to do with that girl."

"**I'll talk to her,"** Akane said as she hopped off Naruto's lap after he let go of her.

"Try not to be too hard on her," Naruto said as he watched his mate leave.

Akane just began heading out of the small ramen stand, **"No promises."**

"Who are you two talking about?" asked Haku, wondering what was going on.

"She's going to deal with my stalker," Naruto commented idly as he looked at Ayame, "how about another bowl Nee-chan?"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

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><p>Hinata watched in envy as Akane sat on Naruto's lap. How she wanted that red head to be her right now. How she hated Akane for stealing her Naruto. Why? Why was Naruto with that girl? Why was he with someone who could never understand him?<p>

Hinata had watched Naruto for years, ever since he started at the academy she had seen him struggle, yet he never gave up. Even when he was being made fun of by the other students, or when Mizuki would try to sabotage the blond with his efforts he always just shrugged it off and smiled. The first year that he had been in the academy she had grown to admire the whiskered marked boy.

She had seen how he had struggled, how he continued to try no matter how many times he failed. It wasn't fair, she had admired and watched him for years. Then this girl suddenly steps into the picture and wrapped Naruto around her fingers within a day. That girl didn't deserve his affection.

So busy was she with her inner monologue that she hadn't even noticed Akane jump off Naruto's lap, nor did she notice when the red head walked out of the bar, or when she disappeared and reappeared right behind her. Hinata didn't notice the girls presence until Akane spoke up.

"**Hinata."**

"Eep!" Hinata whirled around in shock and soon found herself staring into the beautiful ruby red eyes of Akane. The bluenette gulped as she looked at the red head, so beautiful, so perfect, Hinata was insanely jealous of the girls beauty. Though she was far too timid to admit it.

"A-A-Akane-san," Hinata stuttered, suddenly feeling slightly afraid of her previous thoughts, as if the red haired demoness could feel them. She pressed her index fingers together and looked down at her shoes.

A frown marred Akane's face as she decided just what she should say to this girl. Her feelings on the Hyūga girl were very mixed. On the one hand, she disliked people like Hinata, people who gave up just because they had a hard life.

Akane knew very well what the girl's past was like, how her kidnapping and the subsequent death of the Kumo ninja who did it traumatized her. How the girls clan thought she was worthless because of her timid behavior due to that same incident. The red head had forced Naruto to study up on all of the recent history of the people in his class, that way he knew everything important there was to know about whoever he would be teamed up with. It was a moot point now, but at the time, when they had no clue she would no longer be in the seal, it had been a good idea.

This girls life, while more difficult than say, a civilian, was nowhere near as arduous as someone like Naruto's, and it paled in comparison to her own. Unlike this girl, her mate only had one person to care for him before they had met, and in her opinion, the Hokage had done a piss poor job of doing so. The only reason she was even congenial with the old man was because she understood that as the leader of a village, he didn't have the time to truly help raise a child.

Her own life was no walk in the park either. No one but Naruto truly knew her well, even he had not been told everything. She had never truly gone into the horrors she had faced in her life, the wars she had seen, the untold deaths she had lain witness to, the number of people she herself had slain. Her life was not a pretty picture.

The fact that Hinata couldn't seem to gather any courage, even after stalking her mates Chishio Bunshin for four whole years, was pathetic. One would think that after watching the person they admired most it would, at the very least, help them stand on their own two feet. But not Hinata apparently.

"**I'm not really sure how to say this so I'm just going to say it,"** Akane started in a blunt tone. **"You need to move on."**

"M-mo-move on?" Hinata knew what she was talking about, but was having trouble fathoming how she would move on, Naruto was the only ray of light in her life. How could this girl just ask her to do that?

"**Yes, move on,"** Akane confirmed, **"this business of stalking my mate that you've been doing for the past four years." **Hinata "eeped" at having someone call her out on how she followed Naruto, or his clone, wherever it went. **"It needs to stop, it's not doing him any favors and it's not doing you any favors. You spend so much time obsessing over him that you can't even stand on your own two feet. You need to grow up and stop following Naruto-kun."**

Akane was just about to turn away when Hinata yelled at her, or at least, what consisted as a yell for the timid Hyūga girl. "H-how could you s-s-say that? N-Na-Naruto-kun is the p-p-person that I ad-admire most! He-he inspires me to do better!"

"**And how has that worked out for you?"** asked Akane with a raised eyebrow. **"Have you improved any? Has your Jyūken gotten better? Are you a better shinobi after watching Naruto for the past four years?"** When Hinata didn't answer Akane shook her head, **"of course not. You've spent so ****much time obsessing over him that you spent no time bettering yourself. Your just like all the girls that follow –"** she stopped, shook her head and corrected herself, **"that used to follow the Uchiha. Spending too much time worrying about their love life than learning how to be a ninja."**

"T-That's no-not true," Hinata mumbled, "I-I've always tried to improve! To get better, ever since I met Naruto-kun! H-he inspires me!"

"**And yet, despite the fact that you should have been the number one kunoichi of your class, you're only ranked in the middle of your graduating class,"** Akane said. **"You let a civilian, a pink haired, shrieking banshee who spends more time swooning over a boy who will never love her than being a ninja beat you."** She watched as Hinata looked back down at the ground and scoffed, walking away.

She never noticed the look of loathing on Hinata's face.

"Harsh much?" said Naruto as Akane walked back into the stand. He had not heard all of what they had said, even his hearing was not that good, but he had been able to get the gist of it through lip reading. "Couldn't ou have, I don't know, said that a little more gently?"

"**You're too soft,"** Akane said as she retook her place on his lap. **"People like Hinata need a good kick in the ass or they'll never amount to anything, they'll remain weak throughout their entire lives. If she truly wants to be strong than she'll take my words to heart."**

"For once, I agree with red," Zabuza said. Whether he agreed with her because it was the only time he had heard the demoness speak without mention her, Naruto and sex was unknown.

Naruto looked over at Haku who noticed this just shrugged and went back to his eating. He had never really had any experience in situations like this, so it wasn't like he could give them an informed opinion on the matter.

Realizing that no one really had anything to say the blond decided to drop it and got back to his food. After they had all finished eating Naruto and Akane took the pair on a tour of Konoha, showing them the different districts and some of the more historic sights in the village. The blond also showed them some of the places he had pranked, going into vivid descriptions of his nefarious pranks on the people of Konoha. Even Zabuza couldn't keep from laughing when he heard of some the shit Naruto had pulled.

By the time they had finished it was much later in the evening and the sun was beginning to set. Naruto and Akane parted ways with the two former missing-ninja and made their way up the Hokage Monument. Plopping down on the Yondaime's head they sat in what had become their standard position, Naruto leaning against one of the pieces of hair that was spiking up with Akane in between his legs, leaning against him while his arms were securely wrapped around her waist and her head was tucked under his chin.

"**So what are you going to do with that information?"** asked Akane as they watched the setting sun paint a golden red hue across the sky. She felt lulled by the warmth her mate radiated, it was very tempting to just close her eyes and go to sleep like this, just lying in his arms.

"I've got some plans running through my head at the moment," Naruto replied, having a good hunch of what information she was talking about. "Nothing definite yet, and we'll need those Travel Rights so we can leave the village before anything can happen."

Akane hummed as she closed her eyes, **"we could create Chishio Bunshins and let them take any missions that may come up while we head off to do what ever it is you've concocted."**

"No," Naruto shook his head, "a C rank mission may not be that dangerous but I don't want to risk it. While the possiblity is low, it is plenty possible that we could be sent on a higher ranked mission. I don't want the possiblity of people finding out we can make clones like that, not only would others try and learn it, but it would let Ojisan know that we may have done more than just leave the village for a few days at a time. I don't want even a hint of my stint in Kiri coming out."

"**I guess you have a point,"** she murmured. The pair went silent after that, waiting until the sun set before going back to their apartment.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Sarutobi sighed as he listened to the council bickering like a bunch of children. Not that this was anything new, the Konoha council had been arguing ever since he had retaken the position of Hokage after the Kyuubi – Akane, attacked the village. Kami, it was still taking him some time to adjust to calling the Kyuubi by her name, or even just thinking of the Kyuubi as a her.<p>

"I believe we should place Haku under the CRA," Danzo stated, trying to make his case. This was what the argument had been about for a while now. What to do about Zabuza's young apprentice.

It had been several days since the two had arrived in Konoha and the Council had somehow managed to get wind of the pair joining the shinobi forces. Not that learning about them was that hard, they had been seen wondering the village, sometimes with Naruto and Zabuza and said blond had taken to sparring in training ground thirty, as was often evidenced by the number crater-pools that had littered the ground.

The Kiri swordsmen himself had been an easy problem to solve. With no word coming out of Kiri, and no knowledge about whether or not they were still embroiled in a Civil War, Konoha could easily afford to place Zabuza within their ranks and suffer no repercussions from Kirigakure. After he had been given a standard interview with Ibiki, they had let Zabuza go. He would still be watched, but only for ninety days to determine whether or not he would be a threat to the village.

However, Haku was a much more difficult problem to solve, mainly because of his bloodline.

Sarutobi was troubled about how they learned of the young boy's bloodline, ever since Naruto had first discovered the seal under his table the Hokage had made sure to constantly search his office for more seals before he started his day. That he hadn't found any suggests one of the ANBU under his command may not be under his command. A troubling thought in and of itself.

"If we can have him impregnate multiple women we could begin harness the power of his Kekkei Genkei when they get older," the war horse continued. "It would add another addition to our clans, and Konoha would be that much more powerful."

"I say we let him join one of our clans," said a member of one of the Kaitachi clan's council member. The Kaitachi clan were a clan of merchants, they owned the largest chain of grocery and convenience stores in Konoha and were also one of the clans whose hatred of Naruto was well known.

Sarutobi had been at odds with them many times, and their last council member had been one of the people that had been responsible for the meeting he had been in during Naruto's attack, and was summarily executed for it. Since then they had kept quiet about the blond, but they had argued with the aging Hokage on many more points. The clan was also very greedy, they had always wanted the power and prestige that came with being a part of a ninja clan.

"You just want him to become your puppet so you can earn a seat on the Clans council," Tsume said with a slight growl. Tsume Inuzuka was the head of the Inuzuka clan, a ninja clan that had a close partner ship with dogs, and was Kiba's mother.

Tsume was a Tokubetsu Jonin and like all members of her clan had an animalistic look to her. She had long spiky brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails. She also had the clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick. She wore the standard standard outfit of a Konoha shinobi.

Sitting next to her chair was her nin-dog partner Kuromaru, an adult canin with a wolfish appearance. As his name would suggest, he had black fur. He was missing his left ear, along with his right eye, over which he wore an eyepatch.

"Everyone knows you merchants are a bunch of greedy bastards!" the women continued, getting Hikura Kaitachi to scowl at the woman. "You people are never satisfied with what you have, always wanting more, more, more."

"Than what would you suggest?" asked the scowling merchant.

"I say we let him choose whether or not to create a clan," said Inoichi Yamanaka, the clan head of the Yamanak clan and the former head of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Forces. Inoichi had long blond hair that reached all the way down to his lower back, which was spiky on top and ended in a long pony tail. He had green-blue eyes and strong facial features, which included a well defined jaw line. His outfit consisted of the standard flak jacket and over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, forehead protector and a sleeveless red coat.

"Forcing someone into something is not a good way to ensure the loyalty of our shinobi," he continued, "I have already had the chance to speak with Haku-san." As someone who specialized in the inner working of the human mind, it was standard procedure for Inoichi to interrogate all missing-nin who wish to join Konoha. "From what I can gather he doesn't enjoy using his bloodline, in fact, thanks to how his father tried to kill him because of it, he is very uncomfortable even discussing his Kekkei Genkei. It would not be wise to force him into anything that would promote his bloodline abilities."

Many of the council members scowled at the man, however, even the dumbest member of the council knew it would be unwise not to heed his warning.

"What do you suggest we do?" asked Sarutobi.

Inoichi opened his mouth to speak again when he was interrupted by the doors to the council chambers opening. Everyone turned to see who it was and blinked in surprise as none other than Kurenai Yūhi. The reaction her appearance caused was varied, many of the male civilian council members stared at her with open lust, the clan and shinobi council looked at her in interest, while the elders scowled at the intrusion.

"Jonin Yūhi," Koharu said in a commanding voice as she stood up, "what do you think your doing barging in on a council meeting like this?"

Kurenai looked up at the old woman with a raised eyebrow as she did her best to hide her scowl at the lustful looks some of the men were giving her.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback...<em>

_Kurenai frowned as she sat down in her seat at a small bistro, waiting for her friend Anko. Though her thoughts weren't on her best friend at the moment, but rather her genin student Hinata. The girl had become even more withdrawn and seemed to be fluctuating between shame, timidity and anger, or at least as much anger as someone like Hinata could give. She was unsure just what to make of it, though she felt it may have something to do with the fact that Naruto was dating that Akane girl._

"_Hey, Nai-chan!" Kurenai turned and smiled as she saw Anko walking over to her, though it turned into an expression of curiosity when she noticed Naruto, Akane and Haku with her._

_She pushed her thoughts of wonder aside as she stood up and greeted her best friend with a hug, "it's good to see you, Anko. It's been too long since we've actually been able to hang out."_

"_Well we both have a couple of brats to take care of, so it's rather difficult to plan anything," Anko said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly._

_Kurenai nodded before looking at the two genin and the one unfamiliar boy, "I didn't expect you to bring any company."_

"_Ah, well, they just sort of followed me," Anko spoke in an evasive manner. Kurenai knew her friend well enough to know that there was something they wished to speak with her about, but didn't want to just come out and say anything. She decided to play along for the moment, offering the three a nod of acknowledgment. "Naruto-san, Akane-san, it's nice to finally meet you. The few times I've seen Anko she had nothing but good things to say."_

"_That's surprising," Naruto commented with a light grin, Kurenai was slightly surprised by how deep his voice sounded. "Considering how all she ever does is complain about Akane-chan and I when we're on missions."_

"_Yeah well, you can't blame me when the two of you drive me absolutely crazy," Anko shot back._

"_**Your already crazy, sensei,"** Akane quipped with a grin, **"besides, we all know you love it."**_

_Anko snorted and muttered something about sex crazed red heads under her breath._

_Kurenai looked at her curiously, having not heard what she said, but shrugged in the end and turned to their last companion. "I don't believe we've met."_

"_Hello," the boy bowed and Kurenai's eyes widened as she heard the distinctly male voice, she had thought he was a girl! "My name is Haku."_

"_A pleasure to meet you Haku-san," Kurenai recovered from her shock admirably._

_Once they had all sat down a waiter came, all five of them saw the man's eyes stray to Naruto and a scowl come across his face. It looked like he wanted to kick the boy out, but when he spotted Anko take her thumb and run it across her throat in a threatening manner he decided to just ignore the boy. "Can I take your orders?"_

"_Yes, I would like a plate of your assorted sushi and some jasmine tea," Kurenai said._

"_And I'd like a plate of Dango and some red bean soup," Anko ordered._

"_**I'll have your Katsudon(1),"** Akane said._

_Haku looked over the menu before ordering, "I would like your Nyumen (2)."_

_the man nodded and began to leave, once again, everyone noticed that he was leaving before Naruto could give his order. Of course he didn't get far, the moment the waiter had turned around several snakes wrapped around him and began to squeeze hard enough to elicit a paned grunt. _

"_Now, now, now," Anko said as she lifted the man in the air and turned him around so that he was facing the table again. By now they had drawn the attention of the other patrons, but ignored them for the man currently wrapped in Anko's snakes. She gave him a bloodthirsty grin and sent a mild dose of killing intent his way, causing the waiter to shiver. "You forgot to take my other students order, that wasn't very polite," she let her snakes squeeze him again, letting the man know what would happen if he did not follow through with the woman's subtle, or not-so-subtle, suggestion._

"_What... what would like to have?" the man looked like he had swallowed something particularly vile at having to serve the village demon._

"_I'll have your Hyashi Chuka (3)," Naruto said after a few moments of thought._

"_And you will bring his order," Anko said in a threatening tone, "if you don't, my snakes will make sure that limp dick of yours will never get up again." The waiters eyes widened and his face paled, before he nodded empathetically. Picking on the demon wasn't worth losing his ability to have sex._

_Anko sent the man scurrying and Kurenai shook her head as she looked at Naruto, "I apologize for that man's behavior, it was rude and uncalled for."_

"_It was," Naruto agreed, he absently put in a mental note to do something nice for Kurenai, as well as another one to find out where that waiter lives and prank his ass to oblivion. "But it wasn't your fault, you have nothing to apologize for."_

_Kurenai blinked at the blonds display of maturity, she was slightly surprised by it. Even though she had seen his scores, watched his display during team emplacement and listened to Anko's praising of his abilities, she had not expected his mature answer. She was still more used to watching him run around pranking the local populace that this new Naruto would take some getting used to._

_Before their food arrived the group had a light discussion. Anko shared the story of their A rank mission in Nami No Kuni with Kurenai, who had heard rumor of the mission, along with hearing about Zabuza joining their ranks. Though she had not known about Haku being said ninja's apprentice. _

_Conversation tapered off once the food arrived, and the group began to focus more on eating. However when they had finished Kurenai looked at Anko, "I take it there is a reason you brought these three?"_

_Anko looked over at Naruto who pulled out a rather impressive looking seal away on a sealing tag and slapped it under the table. Kurenai could only guess that it was some kind of silencing seal._

"_We," Naruto pointed to himself, Akane and Haku, "wanted to ask for your help."_

"_My...help?" Kurenai blinked in surprise._

"_Yes," Naruto said, "you see, Haku here as a powerful Kekkei Genkei that allows him to use Hyōton Jutsu, as well as several special jutsu of that element that no one else can use. Because of this, we have no doubt that the "council" in all their esteemed, high strung, stick up their ass wisdom," here Anko and Akane snickered at the blonds description of the council. Kurenai actually thought it was rather amusing as well, but being the respectful woman she was, kept her peace. "Will no doubt try to force him to either, join a clan and make him impregnate several women, or place him under the CRA and force him to impregnate several women."_

_They all watched as Kurenai scowled. Being who she was they knew that she disliked how the male population, particularly those in power, held such disrespect for the female gender. It was half the reason they had come to her._

"_Haku isn't particularly interested in even dating right now, much less marrying, especially marrying multiple women," the blond continued._

"_And how can I help?" asked Kurenai. She would honestly like to help, the last thing she wanted was to have several girls being used as breeding stock just so Konoha could gain a new bloodline. But she couldn't really see how she could do anything._

_Now they had gotten to the crux of why they had come. Naruto gave her a look that almost made Kurenai go into shock. It was a one of a kind look, or it had been. The only other time she had seen that look was when she got back from her first B rank as a chunin, a mission that had gone wrong and gotten one of their members killed. It was the look she had seen on the face of the Yondaime, Minato Namikaze._

"_Anko trusts you implicitly so I will too," he said in a tone that let her know she would regret betraying the trust he was extending. "I want you to hold the council seat for the Namikaze clan."_

_flashback end..._

* * *

><p>Kurenai smiled as she ignored Koharu and walked over to one of the empty seats at the Clan Head table, sitting down next to the mother of her friend Hana. This action got several raised eyebrows from many of the people in the council chambers.<p>

Koharu scowled and likely would have said something, had Sarutobi not spoken up first. "I too am curious about your presence here, Kurenai-san," he said in a tone that made it sound like he was asking a question, but in truth was giving an order.

"Of course, Hokage-Sama," Kurenai said, "I am here to represent the head of the Namikaze Clan."

Pandemonium broke out amongst the council members. Many of the civilians were yelling, shouting out about how the Namikaze clan was dead. The Konoha and Shinobi councils were looking at her in both confusion and shock, except for Hiashi Hyūga who was looking at her in mild curiosity. Meanwhile, the Elders were glowering at the woman, wondering if what she said was true, and if so, why they didn't know about the existence of the Namikaze clan head.

"SILENCE!" Sarutobi bellowed. Almost instantly everyone shut up. The aging Hokage leaned back in his seat and put on a pensive expression. "Kurenai-san, do you have any proof that the Namikaze clan is in fact, alive? We all know that Minato died before having a child."

_Cunning, Naruto-kun,_ Sarutobi thought as he looked at the young woman. He couldn't help but admire this well played move. By appointing someone to the council, Naruto effectively had a spy within the ruling body of Konoha. And by using Kurenai it threw off suspicion of who the last Namikaze was, since she and Naruto had no real relation beyond Anko.

"I do," Kurenai reached into her pouch and pulled out a scroll. She stood up and went to hand it over to Sarutobi. "This scroll contains the active blood crest of the Namikaze clan, which only a member of the Clan can activate."

As the raven haired beauty walked back to her seat, Sarutobi unrolled the scroll and saw that it did indeed have the crest of the Namikaze clan, and it was activated, as evidenced by the red glow. The Namikaze crest was in actuality a combination, it was Uzumaki swirl of the Uzumaki Clan, and the tri-pronged kunai for Minato's Hirashin. He had created the crest after his nomination as the Hokage, which had automatically given him a seat on the Konoha Clan council, though he had not been able to fill the position because of his tenor as Hokage.

"This is the official crest," Sarutobi commented in a loud voice. He handed it to Koharu, who was seated on his right, "and it is active." He almost smirked when he saw the three elders scowl at seeing an active crest before they passed it along. By the time it was returned to Kurenai many people were once again shouting, most asking the question of why Namikaze-Sama had not revealed himself.

When the Sandaime had quieted the council down again, Kurenai said, "I know everyone wants to know why Namikaze-Sama refuses to reveal himself. I believe that it should be obvious but I will state the reasons for the benefit of those who haven't figured it out yet." It was a subtle jab, one that only a few people got. Those who did, but hadn't figured out the reason scowled. "Because of his father, Yondaime-Sama, Namikaze-Sama would have many enemies should he reveal himself, particularly in Iwa and Kumo. Because of this, he feels it would be better to remain hidden until he can properly protect himself."

"He is a shinobi than?" asked Danzo, leaning forward in interest. He wondered why he had never heard of the Yondaime having a son. Of course, he had known that Minato had been dating that whore from Uzu but...

Danzo paused in that thought, his single eye narrowing as he followed it to it's chosen course. If his thoughts were correct, then this could very well change everything.

"He is," Kurenai confirmed.

Before anyone else could speak, Sarutobi said, "than why don't we continue with our discussion. Unless Kurenai-san has anything to add."

"Just a few things," Kurenai commented. "The first is that he would like to apologize for not being here in person, you all know the circumstances but he still feels as though he has dishonored you by not showing himself." That was a well calculated lie of course, Kurenai knew that Naruto couldn't give a flying rats ass about the council. But he wanted to play the part of the humble Clan head for the moment. It seemed to have worked as many of the council members were nodding in satisfaction. Kurenai had to hide a smirk.

"Also, Namikaze-Sama realizes that I may not always be available," she continued, "which is why he would like to appoint Tsume-san as his benefactor in my absence." Tsume had been on Kushina's genin team, and had been one of her best friends, even though she had not told the woman about her pregnancy. Tsume looked slightly startled but nodded none the less, she had to admit she was rather pleased to be chosen over Hiashi, who looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "When ever there is a council meeting that I can not attend, Tsume-san will fill me in upon my return and I shall in turn inform Namikaze-Sama."

"The last subject Namikaze-Sama would like to approach is that of the new ninja who has been brought to the village," many people perked up at this, their expressions ranging from curious to distrusting. Now Kurenai really had to suppress a grin as she thought of how many plans her next statement would ruin. "He has decreed that Haku-san is officially a ward of the Namikaze clan, any slight against him will be considered a slightly against the Namikaze clan. This includes, attempting to bribe, threaten, or attempt to claim his bloodline without Haku-san's express permission. All slights against Haku will result in all Namikaze clan assets being barred from whichever clan was responsible for acting against Namikaze-Sama's ward."

Many people paled at this announcement. Before Minato had taken the position of Hokage and earned a seat on the Clan side of the council, the Namikaze Clan had been a very wealthy merchant clan. When Minato died, all of the clan assets, meaning one third of the entire villages shops, had been put under the custody of the Council. With a new Clan head that meant all of those shops now belonged to whoever was the new head. That essentially meant that should someone attempt to gain Haku's bloodline, said clan or person would not only be blocked by one third of the shops in Konoha, but likely blacklisted from the other shops who wished to get on the Namikaze Clan heads good side. It would be a crippling blow for anyone, they would be even more hated than the Kyuubi brat.

This announcement of course caused chaos once again. Sarutobi looked over at Kurenai who noticed and gave him a benign smile that spoke of a job well done.

The aging Hokage looked at all of the screaming council members and only had one thought,_ I don't know whether I should congratulate Naruto-kun on a move well played, or curse him for the head ache I'm starting to get. _He sighed, _I'm getting too old for this shit._

* * *

><p>– <strong>a large bowl of steamed rice with deep-fried breaded cutlets of pork and various savory toppings.<strong>

**- thin white wheat noodles served hot with a dipping sauce.**

**- thing, yellow noodles served cold with a variety of toppings, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, hand or chicken, bean sprouts, thin-sliced omelets, etsc, and a cold sauce (Soy sauce based, Sesame based, etc).**

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	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: Living the High Life**

* * *

><p>There were many things that Naruto enjoyed. Simple pleasures that brought out the best in him. He liked sleeping in on those days he didn't have any training. He enjoyed a good fight and occasionally spilling the blood of his enemies. Teasing some of the people in his life was also a very pleasurable activity. In particular he loved teasing Anko, Ayame, Haku, and Tenten, all of whom never failed to amuse him with their reactions.<p>

Beyond that he enjoyed spending time with Akane. It didn't really matter what they were doing. They could be having the most hard core sex anyone would ever experience, or something as simple as just snuggling together on a couch while watching TV. Whatever they were doing didn't matter. There was nothing that gave him greater pleasure than being with his mate.

Which would explain his sense of absolute peace and contentment when the first thing he saw upon waking up was Akane's peacefully sleeping face.

The two of them were both lying on their side this time. Akane was lying on her left and Naruto on his right so they were facing each other. Their legs were tangled together and they were joined at the junction where they're legs met. Naruto could feel his hardness stuck between his mates wonderful thighs and rubbing very lightly along her outer labia.

His left arm was wrapped firmly around her trim waste, and Akane had returned the favor by having her right arm moving under his own appendage and wrapping itself around his back. Her hand was lightly pressing against his lower back.

As Naruto continued to admire his mates sleeping form, he wondered what god he had pleased to bring such a beautiful and wonderful women into his life. Akane was everything to him. It was she who had taken him in and taught him the ways of the Shinobi. Akane who had taught him to read and write. Akane who had comforted him when he was sad, who had held him when he had cried, who had been there for him no matter what happened in his life. It was she who had turned him into the person he was today. Without her, he would be nothing. Naruto shuddered to think of how life would have been had she not come into it.

He probably would have been some attention starved idiot like his blood clone had been. Maybe even worse.

Naruto's eyes raked over his sleeping mate's form. Akane's chest and the shoulder she was not sleeping on respectively expanded and rose in time with her breathing. His gaze found particular fascination with her chest, an obvious area of interest for any male. Her perfectly round and nicely sized breasts were being pushed together thanks to how she was sleeping, and because they had not covered themselves with a blanket he could see that her pink nipples were slightly hardened from the air hitting them.

His lingering gaze traveled from her breasts to her face. Like always, Akane was a vision of perfection and loveliness. Her face that looked like it had been sculpted by the hands of a thousand angels for over a thousand years in order to create something that could only be considered perfect was currently set into an expression of placid innocence, a look his mate hardly ever carried. She was anything but innocent after all, and they both knew it. Her ruby red eyes were currently closed, her eyelids covered by her thick eyelashes. Her perfect, crimson colored cupid bow lips were partially opened as she continually breathed in and out.

Those lips. They beckoned him in ways only another set of lips she possessed could do. It was a call he had never been one to ignore.

Leaning in Naruto pressed his lips against Akane's. The beautiful red head didn't wake, but she seemed to almost sense what he was doing because her mouth opened a little bit more and granted his tongue access to the inside of her mouth. A soft whimper escaped from Akane's lips as Naruto deepened the kiss. He could feel her beginning to stir and decided to give her a pleasurable wake up.

His hand traveled from it's place around her waist, his fingers lightly trailing along her skin as he channeled chakra to his fingertips and applied the first stage of the Rasengan to a more practical use.

The female he was pleasing began to shiver as his hand crawled along her skin, leaving goosebumps in it's wake. He soon reached her breasts and began applying the same technique to his palm as he began to fondle her right breast. At the same time, Naruto began to grind his hardened shaft along her lips, using all of his hard earned skill in the act of sexually pleasing his mate to work her folds apart and the hood of her clitoris up so he could stimulate her even more.

"Mmmm!"

Akane woke up with a sudden jolt and a loud, sensuous moan. It didn't take her much time to figure out what was happening and who the cause of all these pleasurable sensations were. Really, there was only one possible answer to both of those questions.

Her eyes remained closed as the hand that was not buried under the pillow she and her life partner were sleeping on came up and gripped the back of Naruto's head in order to pull his mouth even closer to hers. Her fingers threaded themselves through his thick blond spikes of hair and her longer than average nails lightly scraped against his scalp.

Naruto groaned into her mouth as she began responding to him. Her tongue came out to play with his.

They moved in an eternal dance that was even older than human existence.

Eventually, Naruto got tired of simple kissing and grinding. Wanting more, and knowing from the love juices Akane was coating his shaft with that she did too, he rolled them over so that his mate was lying on her back and he was hovering over her.

"How do you want it today?" his question was mumbled against her lips, which he refused to let go of. Not that Akane was going to complain.

"Gently," she responded before taking his lower lip in between her mouth and suckling on it. Her actions were rewarded with a pleased groan from Naruto before she let go of his lip and smiled. "Make love to me."

Most of the time sex between Naruto and Akane was almost always very passionate and heated. Much like a battle the two were always trying to outdo the other in how many orgasms they could bring the other before meeting their own completion. They would use every dirty trick they knew. Considering one of them had practically written the book of dirty sex and both of them were avid fans of the Icha Icha series that was saying something. It would not be inaccurate to say that sex between the pair was often the raunchiest and wildest ride anyone would ever experience.

Too bad the chances of anyone else ever experiencing it beside these two was practically zero, no matter how much teasing they did suggested the contrary.

However, while raunchy and passionate sex was often the word of the day with these two, such was not always the case. Times like now sex was not simply an act of pleasure between two extremely horny individuals, but an act of becoming one with the person they loved most. Moments like this were more about the emotional connection and the feeling of oneness they felt with each other than it was the pleasures of the flesh.

Naruto moved within Akane with a gentleness that belied the speed of his thrusts. In return, the red haired vixen underneath him had wrapped her legs around his waist, hooking them together at the heels and using her powerful legs to spur him on.

Her hands roamed all over his back, her nails lightly scratching his against his skin, not enough to draw blood, but certainly enough to leave a mark.

In between shared kisses Akane moaned and whimpered as Naruto continued to pump inside of her. He moved so slowly she could feel _everything_. From the way his long, thick shaft caused her inner walls to expand in order to accommodate him, to the way the upper part of his cock rubbed along the small bump inside of her most sacred entrance that caused her entire body to shudder and jerk and spasm as waves of ecstasy coursed through her body. Everything from the tiniest of movements to Naruto's loving thrusts was felt by her currently hypersensitive nerves.

Such was the power of the bond they shared. Mating bonds between demons were more than just a way to mark someone as a mate. It was an empathic connection that allowed two people, demons, to share thoughts and emotions with each other. A constant thrum in the back of the mind that would only go away with the death of one or the other.

And for those rare few like Akane and Naruto, whose love for each other could not be measured by even the vastness of the heavens, it was a connection that transcended mere empathy and ascended into a literal physical bond between them.

Everything Naruto felt Akane felt too, and everything Akane felt was likewise felt by Naruto. Every thrust of Naruto's hips created an increase in pleasure for Akane who could feel Naruto's pleasure through her bond with him. Likewise Naruto felt the pleasure Akane was feeling thereby enhancing what he already felt. This in turn created a continual loop of mind blowing orgasmic pleasure that only increased with every thrust, every kiss, and every touch made by either one of them.

"Akane..." Naruto's voice was a rough growl in her ears. The way he spoke her name caused shivers to run down her down her spine that had nothing to do with fear.

It also had nothing to do with the way he was nibbling on the sweat on her neck directly behind her ear. Nothing at all.

She shivered as Naruto began nibbling his way down her neck. He knew all of the more sensitive spots she possessed and how to take advantage of those areas to make her body shudder in pre-orgasmic ecstasy, and he made sure to leave a nice red love bite on each one as his lips trailed down her fair skin. With how much biting and suckling he was doing she was sure those marks wouldn't be disappearing for at least a few hours, insane regeneration factor or no.

While Naruto's lips were tantalizing her in ways only her mate could do, his hands had wandered down to her hips. There he began to caress, squeeze and fondle that tight and firm derriere that only women with highly athletic bodies possessed. He was already using the first step to the Rasengan as he worked. Both of his hands were rotating chakra in them in several different ways, making Akane feel like her bum was getting messaged by a hundred professional masseuses.

Her moaning increased in volume as Naruto did this, and she only began to get louder as her mate's mouth found the spot on her collar bone and began to nibble and suck on it. He didn't stay there long, only long enough to leave a nice sized hickey. Then he was moving again, his lips and tongue traveling across her flawless skin until they reached her bosom.

Naruto started slowly, kissing the swell of her left breast, then moving across her chest in an ever rising spiral until he reached her nipple. It was already hard from her arousal, and so Naruto didn't hesitate to suck it into his mouth where he proceeded to swirl his tongue around it, then flick it back and forth.

"Oh gods! Oh gods! Oh gods!"

Akane's body jerked and spasmed as she was pleasured in three different places at once. His hot, pulsing shaft as it made slow, loving thrusts into her slick, tight passage. His hands as they messaged her derriere in ways that would make her the envy of women everywhere if they knew of his talent. His mouth as they claimed her breasts in ways that the author of Icha Icha would never in his wildest dreams think up. Each spot was an erogenous zone and each one was being played upon by a master in the art of love making. If Akane were a harp, then Naruto was the maestro that made her sing out in a beautiful symphony.

On a side note, if Jiraiya knew of his godsons godlike skills in the art of making love, he would probably be hauling ass back to Konoha so he could get some research material.

He would also be extremely jealous of Naruto's hard earned talent.

Her fingers threaded through and tightly gripped Naruto's hair simply so she would have something to hang onto as her body was rocked in almost painful orgasmic ecstasy. Acting on instinct, her body responded without her mind being in control and she pulled Naruto's head down, almost as if it knew she wanted more and was trying to convey that desire to her blond mate.

Whether he understood the message or not didn't matter. Akane was now reaching her limit. Thanks to the slow pace they had set the pair had been going at it for nearly two hours. One of the many benefits of having the stamina of a high class demon. Their bodies were glistening with sweat from their exertions, and Akane was finally ready to finish.

She could feel her body tightening. There was a knot just below her stomach, a slow building pressure like that of a damn that had been so filled up it was close to bursting.

"Naruto!" She cried out. "I-I-I-"

"I know," Naruto said, his mouth suddenly right next to her ear, whispering to her in that husky growl he always got when they were making love. She shivered in delight as his hot breath washed over her. "Cum for me, Akane."

That did it. The pressure that had been building was so sudden it almost took her by surprise. She cried out loudly as her orgasm descended upon her with all the raging subtlety of a level five hurricane as it tore a small village off the coast to pieces. It almost felt the same too, only instead of destruction and pain all she felt was the intense pleasure that only her mate could give her.

Her body jerked and spasmed as her orgasm reached it's crescendo. Her head thrashed from side to side. Her fingers clenched Naruto's hair almost painfully as her nerves were overloaded with the kind of bliss very few people could ever hope to experience.

Her pleasure was only prolonged by Naruto's release. He pumped his load inside of her, and she could feel her body becoming full, complete. His white hot seed only made her own release last that much longer.

When the pair came down from their mutual orgasms, Naruto rolled over onto his side once more, taking Akane with him. He pulled her close and the two lovers shared in small kisses in between breaths as they began to reclaim their bearings. They probably would have done more, but at the moment they were having just catching their breath.

Their last kiss lasted longer then the others, and when they separated Akane gave a sigh, the kind females only ever got after spending a wonderful morning, or night, of having their body worshiped the way Naruto had just done with her.

She tucked her head under Naruto's chin, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of her mate's strong arms wrapped lovingly around her body.

They would stay that way for nearly fifteen minutes before Akane finally decided to break the silence.

"What are our plans for the day?"

"Haku and Anko are coming over for breakfast," Naruto informed her. "I got permission to tell them our secret from the old man yesterday, and I think it would be better if we get this out of the way before our next mission."

"That's right," Akane murmured a bit, her voice soft and content as her mate's body heat and scent lulled her into a sense of peace. "I had almost forgotten about that." She placed a soft kiss against Naruto's throat, smiling as she heard his purring hum of pleasure. "What time will they be over?"

"Um..." Naruto craned his head a bit to look at the clock, which read half an hour past six. "Their supposed to be here around seven, so I'd say we have half an hour before they come."

Akane sighed.

"We'd better get ready than."

Naruto groaned, not wanting to leave the comfort and sanctity of their bed.

"The next time we do this it's going to be on a day when our schedule is clear," Naruto declared as he and Akane separated. The blond let out a loud yawn, his large canine's glinting in the light as he stretched his arms above his head and groaned in immense satisfaction as his back popped and cracked in a most satisfying manner.

"Agreed," Akane muttered as she stared longingly at the place she had been laying.

She tore her eyes away from the temptation, knowing that if she let herself stare at it long enough, the desire to simply grab Naruto and drag him back down onto the bed and cuddle up to him would overpower her. Instead, she turned, scooted towards the edge of the bed and climbed off, her bare feet hitting the thick carpet with a soft thud.

Naruto brought his hands back down after his stretch. Placing them both on either side of him so he could crawl to the edge of the bed when he stopped and stared.

Akane was standing with her back turned to him. The backside of her body was on full display before him and, as always, he found himself entranced by how perfect she was.

His eyes took in her flawless, silken skin, light and fair as if she had been touched by the sun just enough so that she was not ghostly pale. They traveled from her deceptively slender shoulders, down her muscled back and thin waist. Over that deliciously tight ass that morphed into a pair of toned thighs and slender calves that despite their seemingly endless nature ended in a pair of small, dainty feet with crimson red toenails. Everything about the woman before him, from her lustrous red hair to her cute little toes was absolutely perfect.

He had seen her naked many times before. Hell, he saw her naked every day. And yet, no matter how many times he looked at her, Akane's form never ceased to inspire a sense of awe and wonder in him.

"See something you like?"

Naruto's eyes traveled away from rear end and back up her form to her head.

She had turned her head so she could look at him out of the corner of her left eye, which he noted was saturated with teasing amusement.

"What's wrong?" asked Akane, her tone still teasing and mischievous. "Has my beauty fried that brain of yours?"

Naruto shook his head, a soft smile lighting his face.

"No. Well, maybe a little," he winked at her, causing the red head to giggle. "I was actually just wondering what I did in my past life that made me so lucky as to be with someone like you."

Naruto gave himself the mental equivalent to a pat on the back when he saw Akane's cheeks had become suffused with a light tint of pink. It was very hard to make the red head blush. She was as shameless as they came. So he had to take pleasure in the few times he made it happen.

Akane hurriedly turned away when she noticed Naruto's knowing smile. She cursed herself for allowing his sappy words to get to her. It bothered her that he could get such a rise out of her. Though she was not surprised. Much as she may try to deny it, she was a bit of a hopeless romantic when it came to Naruto. Kind words and loving gestures from him never failed to set her heart racing and her cheeks aflame.

"Come on, Naruto," she began as she headed for towards the shower/Jacuzzi tub combination. She knew she had lost this round, so all that was left for her to do was change the subject before he said something that made her already hammering heart pump even more blood to her cheeks. "We need to wash up and eat breakfast before Haku and Anko come over."

"Yes dear," Naruto said, and Akane could just hear the snicker in his voice. She made sure not to look at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing how his words affected her.

Too bad. Had she looked behind her she would have noticed Naruto rapidly approaching her as she walked. Alas, she did not, and thus, a second later she let out a surprised squeak as Naruto scooped her into his arms and began walking towards the shower.

"Is there a reason you decided to carry me?" asked Akane, her cheeks still aflame as she stared into the amused eyes of her mate.

"You mean aside from the fact that I love the feeling of you in my arms?"

Akane's lips twitched into a smile as her arms wrapped around his neck and her head found itself resting on his shoulder.

"Yes, aside from that."

"You were moving to slowly." She could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "We only have half an hour to get ready and have breakfast, remember?"

"Then wouldn't carrying me be counterproductive."

…

…

"...Maybe," Naruto admitted, looking a tad sheepish. Akane snickered at the expression on his face, causing the blond Uzumaki to give her a playful scowl.

Normally, a shower for them would take around one to two hours long. This, of course, was not because they were getting clean. As two beings who were not only incredibly randy but also unequivocally in love and mated to boot, the sight of their life partner was often more than enough to drive them into a state of near delirious passion. As such, the pair often spent nearly eighty percent of their time in the shower simply exploring and pleasing each other, and the other twenty actually getting clean.

It was very unfortunate, and both of them lamented this fact greatly, that they did not have enough time to enjoy each other properly.

Of course, they were completely neglecting the fact that they had just made love for two hours straight.

Horny demonic entities indeed.

While Naruto and Akane took ten minutes to clean themselves of the sweat and smell of sex, a Naruto clone was created to make them a quick breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and orange juice with a side of fresh fruit. The Naru-clone put the food and drinks on the table, grumbling a bit about lazy ass originals before dispelling itself to let the pair know breakfast was ready.

Less then five minutes later, the pair came ambling down the stairs and into the 'kitchen' area of the apartment and sat down to eat. They had decided to dress in civvies today, with Naruto wearing a pair of carpenter jeans and a dark orange t-shirt, and Akane outfitted in a pair of tight black booty shorts and a skintight red sleeveless shirt that was stretched taught across her bust and showed just a hint of her firm abdominals.

"You know, people are going to get killed with you wearing that."

Akane looked up, amusement and mischievousness shining in her carmine orbs as she looked at her mate.

"Thank you for the compliment," she purred as she leaned forward seductively so that he could see down her shirt. Naruto rolled his eyes, or he would have, if he were not so busy staring at her breasts.

She wasn't wearing a bra.

Go figure.

Breakfast that morning was the same always. Filled with innuendo as one tried to outdo the other. Naruto would like to say he was getting better at this whole 'see who can fluster the other faster' thing, but he knew he had a long way to go. By the time Anko and Haku knocked on the door, Naruto's face was a mess of red and Akane was laughing uproariously at him.

Scowling a bit at being beaten so easily, and disappointed since he had thought he was getting better after he had managed to gain an edge this morning, Naruto stood up and made his way over to the door.

As expected Anko and Haku were standing in front of his doorstep. Haku looked politely perplexed while Anko looked annoyed.

Naruto was glad he and Akane had transformed into the child versions during their shower. It wouldn't do for the two to pass out from shock before they had even gotten a chance to speak with them.

"Alright, brat. You said there was something important you wanted to tell us. Well spit it out. I haven't got all day. It may be free time for you kiddies, but I've got some poor fops to torture."

Naruto's eye twitched. Then again, maybe not.

"Right," he plastered an utterly fake smile on his face to mask his annoyance and opened the door wider before stepping aside. "Why don't you two come on in. This isn't something to speak about where other's might hear us."

Anko and Haku raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and went on inside. Naruto closed the door behind them. He wondered how they would take discovering his status as a half demon who was mated to none other than the Kyuubi no Yoko, who just so happened to be their third teammate.

He was about to find out.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Training ground seven. It looked like every other standard training ground that can be found in Konohagakure no Saito. Trim green grass covered the center of the training ground where three wooden training posts stood in the middle. The outlying edge of the training ground was filled with numerous trees and shrubs where stealth training was often taught, and on the outer edge towards the village proper was a fence that blocked off the training ground from civilians.<p>

There was only one difference between this training ground and every other training ground. Well, technically, there was two, but we are only speaking of one at this moment.

That difference was the stone tablet that stood next to the training posts. It was a very plain looking tablet made of stone that stood at about waist height. There were no marking or adornments on it, nothing that would suggest it held any sort of significance.

None except for the many names that were written on it's gleaming surface.

Standing before the stone was none other than Hatake Kakashi, the Copycat Ninja, man who mastered a thousand jutsu, Sharingan Kakashi, and the many other nicknames he had been given throughout his life.

Some might find it odd that he was standing here when he should have met up with his team a little over two hours ago, but those who knew him had grown used to his odd habit. It was something he had done for years now. Every day without fail the first thing he would do after getting up in the morning was come to this stone and stare at it for exactly three hours before meeting his team and coming up with some lame excuse for why he was late.

And while 'getting lost on the road of life' may indeed have a small part in why he was late, the black cat that so often crossed his path had absolutely nothing to do with his inexplicable tardiness. Nothing at all.

"I thought I might find you here."

Kakashi turned his head towards the voice, acknowledging the person who walked up to his side.

"Naruto," he greeted cordially, albeit, curiously. After all, this was not Naruto's normal training ground. His eyes, however, remained the same as he looked back towards the stone. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"I came to pay my respects," Naruto answered, "I've never actually been here before, and figured it was high time I visited it."

"Hmm."

Kakashi nodded his head. He didn't say anything. Whether Naruto was lying or not didn't really bother him.

"You come here every day," the silence was broken by, of course, Naruto. "Day in and day out you never fail to come here and stare at this stone. Don't you think it's about time you forgive yourself?"

Now _that _got Kakashi's attention. The older man looked over at the young blond standing next to him. Naruto was not looking at him, and instead was paying attention to the stone. Kakashi returned his gaze to where it had been. Three specific names that were engraved upon the stone.

"What do you mean?"

"I think you know what I mean," Naruto responded to his question dryly. "No one else is blaming you for what happened in the past. And I'm sure my old man and your teammates have forgiven you, so it's about time you forgave yourself as well."

Kakashi stiffened at the blond's words. It was only for a second, and very subtle. Most people would have never noticed. Naruto did notice, of that Kakashi was sure.

"So you know who your dad is."

"And my mom."

"Then I guess you know who I am too?"

"Hatake Kakashi," Naruto began to recite, "graduated the academy at age five, Chunin by eight, Jounin by ten, and ANBU by twelve. You were on a team with Inuzuka Rin, and Uchiha Obito, who gave you that eye your hiding behind your headband during a mission gone wrong. Your team was led by Namikaze Minato, my dad. During the third Shinobi War you fought with distinction and became known as Sharingan Kakashi, or the Copycat ninja."

"You've done your homework," Kakashi acknowledged. He had to give the boy props for knowing so much. Most genin never bother looking up information on their senseis. And no genin would bother looking up information on someone who wasn't there sensei. "I'm impressed, and surprised. I had not realized you knew about your parents."

"Most people don't," Naruto said cheerfully, "but they should have. After all, it would be nearly impossible for me not to know my parents when I looked exactly like my old man. The fact that I see his face nearly every morning when I wake up kind of makes it hard not to see the similarities."

Kakashi withheld a chuckle.

"If only everybody else were so intelligent."

Naruto shrugged.

"Well, I was under henge for much of my time at the academy so I guess it's understandable, even if I didn't change much."

"I noticed that," Kakashi nodded, "I had wondered why you looked so different from the last time I saw you. I guess I know now."

"Yep."

"So," Kakashi glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, "What was the real reason you came here? I doubt it was because you actually wanted to stand around staring at this stone all day."

"Can't get by you, can I?" Naruto joked, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out slip of folded paper. He handed it to Kakashi, who looked at it curiously, before turning an inquiring gaze on him. Naruto smiled. "It's something my parents were hoping to do but were unable to accomplish because of the Kyuubi attack. I figured since they can't do it, I would in their honor."

Kakashi frowned underneath his mask, curious. He deftly unfolded the sheet of paper to take a look at it. And stared.

"This is..."

"Something to think about doing," Naruto said, grinning, "If you want. The real files are with the old man Hokage, just go see him if your serious about this. Anyways," the blond Uzumaki stretched his hands above his head and let out a long yawn, "I think I'll be heading out now. I've got a date with Akane, and I don't want to keep her waiting. Later Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi chuckled as Naruto spun around and walked off the field. He looked back at the slip of paper in his hand and smiled.

"Thank you, Naruto."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Naruto had to admit they made an interesting sight as they stood before the Hokage. A sexy Jounin wearing an outfit whose only real covering was the large tan trench coat, an androgynous male who liked to wear female clothing, a super hot red head wearing a skimpy outfit that only left things to the imagination because it covered the important bits, and a spiky headed blond wearing an outfit similar to his father only with different colors used in the clothing.<p>

They were truly an odd group.

The four of them stood in front of the Hokage. He and Akane had large, shit eating grins on their faces, both from the thought of getting their first mission with their new teammate, but mostly because of the sex they had less than fifteen minutes ago. Haku was blushing up a storm, and would occasionally send glances their way, only to hastily look away when they caught him looking. On the other end of the spectrum, Anko looked not only incredibly embarrassed but also indubitably irritated. There was a large tic mark on her forehead, and her eye had gained an unhealthy twitching.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the group and sighed.

"Dare I ask what happened now?"

Naruto and Akane snickered while Haku's blush deepened, a feat not even Hinata had managed, and Anko's scowl grew.

"We forgot to put up our silencing seals," Akane admitted, though given the way she was grinning it was clear to everyone that she did not, in fact, forget to put them up. "And I guess we just got a little too... rambunctious, in our activities today."

"Rambunctious she says," Anko's voice was a low growl. She scowled at the pair, who adopted a look of such innocence it couldn't possibly be real. "You woke me up in the middle of the fucking night with all that goddamn noise you were making!"

"We're sorry, Anko-sensei," Naruto said mournfully. On his left, Akane nodded.

"Tell you what," the red head started, "Next time Naruto and I decide to fuck like rabbits in heat, we invite you to join us. That way you won't be so crabby about not getting some anymore."

"What was that!?" Anko shouted, turning to fully face the pair, one fist raised and shaking menacingly at them. "Listen here you little shits! I don't need either of you to have a good sex life! If I wanted, I could claim any male in Konoha! I just don't cuz they're all a bunch of pansies!"

She paused.

"AND FOR THE LAST TIME I'M NOT HAVING SEX WITH YOU TWO!"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Zabuza had to admit that Konoha was a rather nice place. Boring as hell. But nice.<p>

It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear, there was a light breeze that caused the many hundreds of trees to gently sway, and the streets were busy as men and women shopped for their daily needs.

Walking down one of the busiest business sections of Konoha, Zabuza looked around the area and lamented the fact that he could not carry his Kubikiriboucho. He had been allowed to retain it, because the old man that led the village was just nice like that, but the condition had been that he could not carry it around until his probation period ended. It sucked, but he had no desire to get into a fight with the man who had been dubbed the Professor in his youth.

Insane and blood thirsty Zabuza may be, but stupid he was not.

While he was meandering down the road, a tall, scarecrow-ish figure holding an orange book to his face walked up to him and began walking alongside him.

"Kakashi," Zabuza grunted in greeting.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted, flipping another page in his book. "How are you and your apprentice adjusting to Konoha?"

"Well enough, I guess," Zabuza shook his head when he saw the man walk around a child that was about to run into him without even taking his off his book. "Boring as hell though. This probation period thing sucks."

Kakashi chuckled.

"Well, you only have two months and three weeks left to go."

Zabuza's scowl said exactly what he thought of that. He opened his mouth to tell Kakashi exactly what he thought of spending all that time doing nothing –

"AND FOR THE LAST TIME I'M NOT HAVING SEX WITH YOU TWO!"

– When the loud, piercing and angry scream of a very familiar woman rent the air.

All around him people stopped what they were doing at the sound of the shout. Men blushed and happy smiles appeared on their faces while blood began dribbling out their nose at the thought of sex and what that shout meant. Women's faces grew red with anger and those who were walking with said men smacked their significant other on the head and told them they would be sleeping on the couch for having such lewd thoughts.

This, of course, caused the men to hang their heads in dejection and curse whoever had just shouted.

Which, by the way, earned them another smack on the head.

"Sounds like Naruto and Akane are riling up Anko again," Kakashi commented lightly before erupting into a perverted giggle. Zabuza rolled his eyes and continued walking.

"Looks like it. I wonder what they did this time?"

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Must you be so loud, Anko?" Sarutobi sighed tiredly and began pinching the bridge of his nose to stem the coming head ache. He just knew that somehow, someway, her screaming was going to cause enough problems that he would be stuck with more paper work.<p>

"Heh he," Anko rubbed the back of her head as a sheepish grin crossed her face, "Sorry about that old man."

Perhaps it was because they were the sanest of the group currently in the room – if one did not count the ANBU who could never be classified as sane anyways – Sarutobi and Haku both face palmed at the same time.

Of course, Haku did so because his face looked like someone had set off an Katon jutsu on it. Sarutobi was just annoyed and resigned.

"Perhaps we should just get to the point of why we're here," being the logical and sanest member of his squad, Haku decided to take charge since no one else seemed able to right now.

He was still blushing madly though.

"Yes, perhaps that would be best."

Sarutobi took his pipe out of the left bottom hand drawer. After packing it with tobacco, he lit the contents with a small katon jutsu and puffed on it contently.

"Recently, several ships have been attacked and sunk in a small port town in Umi No Kuni (Land of Sea)," he began in a serious tone. Well, as serious a tone as someone puffing on a pipe can make. "No one exactly exactly who or what is attacking these ships, but reports form the few survivors claim it's some kind of Sea Monster."

He looked at the group with an intense gaze, the lazily wafting streams of smoke from his tobacco pipe partially concealing the upper half of his face from them.

"Your mission is to head over to Umi No Kuni, discover who is attacking these ships, and put a stop to them."

"Sounds easy enough," Anko said, "Alright! We'll take the mission, old man! This should be fun!"

"I completely agree," Naruto smiled as he saddled up to Anko's left.

"As do I," Akane moved to Anko's. She offered the suddenly on guard woman an innocent smile as she and Naruto grabbed her arms with their own. "And just think. We'll be heading out to another country with no one from Konoha near us. Just the three of us, all alone."

Haku's eyebrow twitched.

"Hello, I'm going too."

He was, naturally, ignored.

"Just think of all the... fun... things we can do together," Naruto's smile turned positively feral as Anko began trying to shake her arms out of their grip to no affect. Demonic strength trumped Jounin strength any day of the weak.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" Haku tried again, and was suitably ignored.

"Yes," Akane purred in Anko's ear, causing the woman to shudder. "Just think of all the fun _activities_ we can do together, Anko-_sensei_."

Anko's face turned red. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger was unknown.

"God damn it you two! I don't you once I've told you a thousand times! WE ARE NOT HAVING SEX!"

"I'm sure we'll wear you out eventually."

As a red faced Haku continued grumbling, Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose. He was _really _beginning to regret forming this team. Ugh, and they had looked so promising too.

* * *

><p><strong>I know it's been a long time since I've updated any of my Naruto stories, except for my Gaia's Sennin story. I do apologize for that, but my muse pretty much destroyed my motivation for writing anything Naruto. She's just a bitch like that.<strong>

**Thankfully, I was able to come up with this chapter. I pretty much pumped it out while my muse decided to be pleasant for a change, and this is what I got. It's really just a set up chapter for my next arc, but I hope you enjoyed it.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23: Kaima?**

* * *

><p><em>'Where... where am I?'<em>

_Anko found herself standing on a peer looking out at a group of islands off in the distance. She had no clue how she got there, nor could she recall why she was even there in the first place. Despite this, those islands looked strangely familiar. Like she had seen them before._

_'Where... am I?'_

_As she continued to stare off at the distant islands, a stiff breeze blew across the peer, rustling the water and kicking up several leaves that had seemingly appeared at random. _

_Anko was forced to shield her face, putting her arms over her eyes, lest some of the detritus get in her eyes. Despite how annoying it was to have random leaves and dirt flying in her face, she couldn't help but smile. She knew what that breeze meant._

_Turning her head, she faced her sensei with a bright smile. Her lips moved, though no words came out. Yet for some reason, even though there was no sound coming out of her mouth, she knew exactly what she had said._

_Strange._

_As she finished speaking to her sensei, the man's pale face smiled at her and Anko could not help but feel comforted by that smile. Her sensei really was the best._

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p><em>Pain. That was all she knew. It felt like every cell in her body was screaming at her, crying out as they suffered beyond anything she had ever felt before. No, beyond anything she could have even comprehended before. It penetrated her skin like a million needles covered in lightning chakra, it seeped in through her very pours, consuming her. Devouring her.<em>

_All that existed for her was pain._

_It felt like her entire life had been consumed by pain. Even as the small shaft of light coming in through a gap in the door got smaller and smaller before finally clicking shut, all she could concentrate on was the incredible agony her body was suffering through. Not even the sound of the door locking was capable of penetrating the fog of her agonic induced mind._

_Her body was covered in sweat, the chilly breeze that blew through a small gap in the rock walls served to present a startling contrast between the heat raging inside of her small body and the cool air outside. Rather than sooth her like it normally would have, it sent sharp spikes of torturous spasms through her body. It only added to the pain she was already in._

_Finally, her body couldn't stand it anymore. No longer capable of supporting her wait, her arms gave out and Anko crashed face first into the ground. Yet the pain on her face was nothing but a pinprick compared to the soul rending torture the rest of her body was suffering through._

_Spasms continued to rock her body. In an effort to lessen the pain she was in, Anko jerked her body around to her side, curling up in a fetal position._

_The pain didn't like that._

_A sharp jolt had her body spasm again, forcing her to roll over as she cried out her agonizing torture to the world. Like a puppet being pulled by a set of strings and her pain acting as the puppeteer, her body jerked and spasmed until she found herself laying spread eagle on her back._

_The pain, that incredible, indescribable pain that made it feel like her soul was being torn apart at the seems all seemed to originate from one point._

_In the darkness that surrounded her, Anko's hands clutched the small three tomoe seal on her neck, praying to every god she could think of to make the pain stop._

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>Like a sailor who had just been pulled out of the ocean after almost drowning, Anko awoke with a startled gasp. Reacting on instinct to the adrenaline coursing through her like a hurricane, her body shot upwards from it's laying position on her fuuton as she tried to remember where she was and why she was there.<p>

Or at least, she tried to. For some reason, she couldn't move. There were two heavy weights on either side of her body, pinning her to her fuuton.

Unable to get out of her predicament for the moment, and her mind still hazy from her dream and the pain she was currently in, Anko decided to just lay there and take a moment to gain her bearings.

The ceiling she was staring at was surprisingly light, made of a cloth fabric instead of plaster. That told her she wasn't in her apartment. A tent then. It was a good start, but she would need more information if she wanted to figure out exactly where she was.

Now if she could just get up so she could take a look at her surroundings maybe it would be possible to determine her current location...

"Please don't move around too much, Anko-sensei. I'm trying to sleep."

Anko's eyes flew wide open at the sound of that voice. She was not surprised to hear the voice. She knew that voice as surely as her own. Knew who it belonged to. How could she not know that voice when it belonged to one of the people she had taken on as a student?

No, her surprise came not in hearing the voice, but hearing it so close to her. If Anko didn't know any better, she would say the person that voice belonged to was laying right next to her.

Which was preposterous of course. She would have known if he had snuck into her fuuton in the middle of the night.

….

Right?

Warm breath hit her ear, the same ear that the voice was closest to. Almost mechanically, Anko turned her head... and was met with the shock blond hair and blue eyes of Uzumaki Naruto. He was smiling at her.

"Good morning, sensei."

….

….

"KYAAAAA!"

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>"Hey, Anko-sensei. You're not still mad about waking up to find us in your bed, are you?"<p>

"..."

"**Mou, don't mean mistress-chan. We just wanted our cuddles with our favorite teacher in the whole wide world."**

"..."

"Are you going to ignore us the rest of the way to Umi no Kuni?"

"..."

As he, Naruto, Akane and Anko hopped through the trees of Hi no Kuni, Haku could just barely contain his sigh. He had woken up this morning to the sound of a scream, which had turned out to be Anko-sensei shrieking like a little girl because Naruto and Akane had snuck into her bed last night... again, and since that small incident, things had been like this. Naruto and Akane doing there best to annoy Anko while their teacher ignored them to the best of her abilities.

Judging from the vein popping out on her forehead, Anko was fighting a losing battle in that regard. Not that she could be blamed. Those two were damn annoying when they wanted to be, and they were much more stubborn than the Snake Mistress.

"Mu~ Anko-sensei/**Mistress-chan!**"

"Oh for the love of...! Would you brats shut the fuck up!"

Finally unable to contain it anymore, Haku sighed. He was beginning to wonder whether or not joining this team was a good idea or a bad one.

"**Oi! I'm not a brat," **Akane pouted at being called a brat. She didn't look very angry though. **"I'm older than you. Wouldn't that make you the brat mistress-cha~an?"**

"Not when you're acting like this," Anko grit her teeth. Akane pouted some more while Naruto gave his mate and their 'sensei' an amused smile.

"Not to interrupt you guys..."

Naruto, Akane and Anko all whirled on Haku.

"What/**something up?"**

"...But we're here," Haku finished lamely as he pointed behind them. The trio of immortal Kitsune, immortal Wolf-Hanyou and mate to said Kistune, and sexy yet strangely easily flustered jonin turned around to look at what Haku was pointing towards.

They were standing on the edge of the cliff, the tree line they had been hoping ending just behind them. Down below the group could easily make out the port town that was their destination.

The port town was an unusually shaped town. It wasn't very wide, but it was very long. Blocked off from expanding outward by the mountain range behind it and the sea before it, the town spanned the entire coast lengthwise. Because of the inlet to the sea they were situated in, the town was curved into the shape of a crescent.

From their vantage point they couldn't pick out any specific details about the town. The roofs of the buildings were predominantly brown in color with a smattering of blues and reds, there were a few towers that stood over the heads of the rest of the buildings. Light houses most likely.

From where he stood, Naruto could make out several ships sitting in the harbor. There were no where near as many as a port town like this should have had. Most likely all of the sailors had been driven away from this place despite it being a major stopping point for people traveling to other countries by the rumors of the Kaima, the monster that had been attacking vessels out at sea near here.

The monster they had been tasked to take care of.

Naruto took a deep breath, his face breaking out into a large smile as he caught the scent of the ocean on the wind. He had not had much time to enjoy that scent during their stint at Nami no Kuni because of Gato and the aftermath that came with breaking up his company. Now that they were here, the blond Uzumaki had every intention of enjoying as much time by the ocean as he could before they had to take care of the Kaima.

He spared a quick glance towards his mate, about to ask her whether or not she would want to go out on a boat with just the two of them after the mission was over, only to frown when he saw her eyes flicker.

"Something wrong, Akane?" he asked. Akane turned her head towards him, blinked, and then smiled.

"**No," **she shook her head. **"Nothing's wrong... I don't think. I just thought I smelled something strange for a second."**

"I think the salt water is just getting to you," Naruto commented with a grin. He placed his hands behind his head, fingers locked together to support him as he leaned his head back while Akane huffed at him.

"**Not everyone enjoys the smell of the sea, salt for brains."**

"Owch." Naruto mock winced. "Claws out today?"

Akane gave him a fanged grin.

"**They're always out, honey. You just tend to like them so much you don't notice."**

"Alright, alright," Anko decided to break the two up before their banter took a turn for the sexual. She so did not need them trading innuendos back and forth right now. "Get a grip on your hormones you two. We've got a job to do so let's focus, alright?"

"**Well..." **Akane heaved a dramatic sigh. **"I suppose we could do that." **She grinned at the woman who currently looked older than her teenage form.** "But only because we love you so much."**

"I'm so pleased to hear that," Anko rolled her eyes.

"If this is the place where the Kaima's been attacking ships, then I guess those are the four islands that were talked about in the written report." Haku pointed a finger towards the ocean. There, sitting within the vast sea of blue, were four islands. The islands consisted of one large island known simply as Mother Island, and three smaller ones that had been given the names Jiro, Taro and Demon island respectively.

"I would imagine so," Naruto hummed before cracking a smile. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say the big one is Mother Island," he snorted, "how original. I think the one on the middle of the smaller trio is Demon Island though I can't be sure."

"**It is," **Akane said almost absently, her gaze not on the islands but on Anko, who looked like she was one step away from having a seizure.

"Then that would make the one on the left Taro island and the one on the right Jiro island," Haku said. "I wonder if those names hold some kind of historical significance."

"**Demon island does," **Akane informed them. The group minus Anko looked at her. **"Long ago, about three hundred years I think it was, there was a demon who had made his home there. For about ten years he terrorized the port town, which was much smaller than it was now, and small settlements on the other islands, before being killed by the Sanbi."**

"Huh," Naruto frowned. "I did not know that. You learn something new every day."

"**Are you alright, Anko?"**

At Akane's words, Naruto and Haku turned to look at Anko and became slightly concerned by what they saw.

Mitirashi Anko was not looking very well. Her skin was pallid and her body was breaking out into a cold sweat. Anko's eyes were wide and terrified as she gazed out into the distance, like there was something she was looking at that only she could see.

The most startling thing they noticed about Anko, however, was that she had a hand covering a very specific spot on her neck.

"You're cursed seal is acting up, isn't it?" asked Naruto as he walked towards Anko. She did not answer, but then, she did not need to. It was obvious to him what was going on. There was only one thing that could cause such a reaction in a woman as tough as Anko.

Forcibly removing her hand from her neck, Naruto gazed at the three tomoed curse mark that had been given to the woman by Orochimaru. It was inflamed. Literally. The seal had gone from it's normal black coloring to a flame orange color with flecks of red that made the seal look like it was made of fire.

Naruto carefully placed a hand on the seal. Anko tensed underneath his touch, but he ignored her for the moment as he began channeling his half-yokai into the seal.

The effects were almost immediate. Anko's body relaxed, her muscles untensed, she stopped sweating, and the look of horror that had been etched upon her face disappeared, replaced by relief. By the time Naruto removed his hand, the cursed seal had gone back to black.

"Feel better?" asked Naruto as Anko gingerly rubbed the seal now that his hand was gone.

"Yeah..." Anko said absently. "Thanks." She gave him a funny look. "How did you do that?"

"You forget, Anko-sensei, that I am a half-Yokai, a Hanyou."

Naruto chuckled at the confused expression on her's and Haku's faces. Though he and Akane had told them what they were and their story, the two did not know everything there was to know about Yokai or even half Yokai.

"Hanyous are a very unusual breed of half-Yokai," Naruto began to explain. "Our energy is made up of half youki, a power similar to chakra that supernatural creature's use, and half chakra, the human equivalent of youki. Like all Yokai, our youki has regenerative properties to it, but because it is a combination of yokai and human energies, it is not deadly for humans unless channeled into them in large quantities."

"Huh," Anko muttered as she rubbed her neck. "You learn something new everyday, I guess."

"**That's what he said," **Akane snickered. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Bad pun, Akane-chan. Really bad pun."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>"Alright brats," Anko started as she, Naruto, Haku and Akane found themselves wandering through the streets of the small port town in Umi no Kuni. "This mission is extremely important so you all need to pay attention to your surroundings while we're here. I don't want to run into any surprises."<p>

"**Like a giant tentacle monster made purely of water."**

"Yes," Anko nodded. "Like a... wait," she blinked, then cast a strange look at Akane. "What's this about tentacle monsters?"

"We already know how important this mission is, Anko-sensei," Naruto said before Akane could respond with some kind of sexual innuendo that would cause their sensei to turn lobster red. As much as he enjoyed seeing how deep they could make their sensei blush, now was not the time.

They would make their sexy jonin teacher red in the face later. Like, after the mission later.

Akane huffed, not at all pleased that she was being denied her fun. Thankfully, she did not seem inclined to push her luck with this, and decided not to tease the woman to death.

Naruto used this small reprieve to look around the town. While it was a decently populated civilian center, there seemed to be an underlying current of tension and fear about the place that was setting him on edge. Only the adults in the village seemed to notice it though, the children he could see playing in the streets seemed ignorant.

Were they afraid because of the Kaima?

"Oh? Then why don't you enlighten us, oh knowledgeable one," Anko said sarcastically while dodging a group of children that ran passed her. The group looked like they were playing ninja, one of them even had wooden shuriken in his hands that he was tossing at the others while they laughed and screamed. "Tell me, why is this mission so important."

"**Because Umi no Kuni has hired out Samurai from Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water),"** Akane said before Naruto could. While her blond mate glared at her with no real heat, Haku stiffened slightly at the mention of his old home. **"However, their last shipment was still destroyed by the Kaima, thus, in order to maintain good relations with their neighbors, they've decided to hire out shinobi from Konoha to take care of the Kaima before the next shipment arrives."**

"I could have answered that," Naruto grumbled, causing Akane to giggle amusedly and pat his cheek in condescension like he was some kind of petulant child who just had his lollipop taken away.

"**Of course you could have, dear."**

"I could have," Naruto was insistent.

"There's just one thing I don't understand," Haku spoke up, making Anko and the two powerful supernatural entities he called teammates look at him.

"And what's that?" asked Anko.

"Why would Umi no Kuni hire out Konoha shinobi when Mizu no Kuni has it's own shinobi village?"

"Because Kirigakure doesn't have the necessary resources for such a small operation," Anko answered. "As I understand it, our spies have reported that the bloodline civil war ended about five or so years ago." At the mention of the bloodline civil war, Naruto and Akane shared a secret smile that went unnoticed their 'sensei'. "However, the amount of damage done not just to the infrastructure of their village, but also because of how many lives they lost, they simply can't afford to spare any of their forces for such a small paying mission. Most of the missions they take are higher paying so they can earn more income for their village to use in the rebuilding process."

"I see," Haku said, "I guess that makes sense."

"Of course it makes sense," Anko spoke way too cheerfully for someone who just mentioned a bloody civil war that killed thousands of people. "Now, come on. We've got to find ourselves a boat so we can head over to Mother Island. That's where most of the attacks are taking place."

She and Haku continued on their way, weaving through the crowd. Naruto made to follow for a second, but stopped when he realized Akane wasn't with them.

Turning around he saw his mate searching the area, a small frown on her face.

"Akane," Naruto moved back over to her, placing a hand on his shoulder when he reached her. "You alright?"

"**No," **Akane said, her eyes still roving the area. They eventually focused on Naruto. **"I sense something here."**

"Something?" Naruto blinked.

"**Yes," **Akane's voice was strangely grave as she spoke. He had never heard her sound like this before and, truth be told, it was kind of freaking him out.

And then she said something that really freaked him out.

"**Something not human."**

Not human. Then...

"You mean there's a demon here?"

Akane's eyes narrowed, her irises flickering around the town before looking out at the sea.

"**Not here," **she pointed over to the islands. **"Somewhere over there."**

"On the islands?"

A nod was his answer.

"**I can't get a good read on them," **the red haired demi-goddess shook her head. **"With my powers weakened from losing my tails, my ability to sense demonic entities is gone. The only reason I can even tell there is a demon here is this," **she tapped her nose and Naruto understood.

"The demon has been in this town recently." He sniffed the air, channeling his half-youki into his nose. "Now that you mention it, I do smell something other than salt water. It's blended into the ocean air so well that I missed it at first."

"**It's a very weak scent," **Akane said. **"I'm not surprised you didn't pick it up. The only reason I could was because I would recognize the scent of a demon anywhere."**

"Do you think it's the Kaima?"

"**Possibly..."**

"Oi!" The shout shook the two out of their conversation. Turning around to the source of the voice, they found an annoyed looking Anko and a curious Haku staring at them. "What are you two doing standing around like a bunch of vegetables? We've got to get that boat and head over to Mother Island."

"**You two are going to have to go without us, I'm afraid," **Akane said, and Anko stiffened at the tone in her voice. **"There is something here that Naruto and I need to take care of."**

"Like?" asked Anko. When the two remained silent she sighed. "Look, this mission is important, so unless I know why my two most powerful subordinates need to leave –"

"She makes it sound like I'm weak," Haku sighed.

"– I can't just let you go," she finished without missing a beat. "You understand?"

Naruto and Akane looked at each other, a silent debate that only they could hear ensuing as they decided whether or not it would be prudent to tell her.

Much debate and many strange faces made for what appeared to be no reason to those who did not have an empathic and telepathic connection via yokai mating ritual later, the two came to a decision.

"**There's a demon in Umi no Kuni."**

"Or a group of demons," Naruto added the even more unpleasant thought.

Anko and Haku both stiffened.

"You mean like..."

"Yes," Naruto nodded.

"I can't believe there's a real demon here..." Haku breathed in shock, then noticed the look Akane was giving him and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Forgive me, I did not mean to exclude you. I just meant..."

"**I know what you meant," **Akane waved off his concerns. While technically classified by humans as a 'demon', Akane was actually more of a spiritual entity than anything else. **"I suspect this demon is merely an advance scout for a possible larger incursion. With the Bijuu sealed inside of containers and humans it was bound to happen eventually."**

It was one of the problems most humans didn't understand, something they never really bothered to even try understanding. In their greed for more power, they sealed the nine Bijuu away into containers and people in the hopes of harnessing that power for themselves. They never even realized that in doing so they were opening up a Pandora's box.

Anko stared at her two 'genin' hard for a long moment. Their words just went to prove how different these two were from normal shinobi. They lived in a world that not even the Hokage's would dare go near.

Akane was duty bound to look into this. As the only active Bijuu within the Elemental Nations, she was the only one who could deal with whatever demon had made it to their continent. And Naruto, as her mate, could not be persuaded to part from Akane and leave her to face this alone. Not when she was weakened from having given him all of her tails.

"Alright," she sighed at last. "I'll let you two head off to deal with this." A glare followed this announcement. "But I want you to make it quick. Deal with this threat and get back to us. Even if your demon is the Kaima we're searching for we still have to prove that there is no longer any threat. Got it?"

"Yes, Anko-sensei/**Mistress-chan!"**

Anko's eyes twitched.

"Don't call me that!"

"**Yes, Anko-sensei**/Mistress-chan!"

"I hate you both so much right now."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>"This is just great," Anko complained as she walked through the town, Haku following dutifully behind her. "Not only do I have to return to this kami forsaken country, but now the two most powerful members of our squad are off on a demon hunt. This mission is going down the shitter really quickly."<p>

As he listened to his new sensei complain and grumble, Haku sighed. Sometimes he almost felt like a third wheel. Or would that be a fourth wheel? Whatever the case was, he was beginning to think he had only been put on this squad for comedic relief and so Naruto and Akane could partake in the Chunin Exams that would likely be coming soon.

That was kind of a depressing thought.

"Here you go."

Haku turned around when a small commotion caught his attention. It wasn't necessarily a 'commotion' per se, but being a shinobi had given him an incredible sense of spatial awareness and he could easily tell when something was 'out of place' so to speak.

The thing that was out of place in this picture was several things that would appear innocuous at first, but when combined created a picture that was not at all pleasant.

There was a girl standing in front of man. She was very young, probably no older than twelve or thirteen, and kind of cute, Haku noticed, despite the bandages covering her. Her hair was black and a little choppy looking, like she had tried to cut her own hair with a jagged kunai or something. She had eyes that were equally black, reminding Haku of bottomless pools. She was cute, but that wasn't what Haku noticed was wrong with this picture.

His first clue that something was wrong was the amount of money the man had given her. It looked like the girl had been selling off high quality fish judging from what was in the basket she handed off to the man. That alone bothered him. Why would she be selling fish to people when her parents should be doing this kind of thing?

None of the answers he came up with were pleasant.

Another problem he noticed was the amount she had been paid. For fish of that quality it was a very measly amount. No where near the total net worth of those fish.

These two issues alone would have called for an intervention, but what really settled it for Haku was her eyes. They were just like his used to be before he found Zabuza; empty, soulless, they were the eyes of someone who had nothing to live for. Someone who had no purpose.

"I'm sorry," was saying to the girl who looked rather downtrodden at the poor amount of money she had received, "but that's the best I can do."

"Excuse me," Haku quickly walked up to the pair, who turned to look at him. While the older male simply appeared curious, the young girl looked at him with suspicion.

Haku bowed before them.

"I apologize for intruding, but I couldn't help but notice that the amount you were paying for those fish is nowhere near the mark up prices they are actually worth." Haku took a closer look at those fish. "You see how fresh they are? Not only do they look like they were just caught, but the color here tells me these are a rare breed found only in certain coastal climates near coral reefs. Only a diver could have caught those fish. Standardly speaking, those fish are worth about fifty yen apiece, not twenty."

"Uh..." The older man looked very unsure of himself at seeing someone actually telling him he was not paying the girl enough money. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Look, it's not like I'm underpaying her because I want to or anything. It's just that with all this commotion going on because of the Kaima, customers have been pretty scarce."

Out of the corner of his eye, Haku saw the girl stiffen at the mention of the Kaima.

"Sorry," the older man concluded, "but that's the going price these days."

"I see," Haku frowned. After mulling over the problem for a moment, he pulled some extra yen out of his pocket, enough to cover the true price of the fish. "In that case, I shall make up the difference myself." He handed grabbed the surprised girl's hand and placed the money in her palm. "There you go."

The girl looked at him in shock, her eyes wide and mouth open. Haku gave the girl a reassuring smile, hoping it would ease her troubled soul.

Whether it did or not, he would not get the chance to find out. A few seconds after he handed her the money, the girl yanked her hand out of his grasp and took off running. He watched her go, noticing all the people who went out of their way to either pretend she didn't exist or glare at her, before she disappeared behind a building.

"Excuse me," Haku decided it was time for some information gathering since he had the perfect person to speak with right next to him. The older man looked at him curiously. "I just wanted to know who that girl was?"

"Her?" The older man looked at the girl's retreating back before focusing on Haku again. "She's a diver. She lives in a small town over on mother island."

"An islander, huh?" Haku's frown grew more prominent. "If she lives over on the island, why is she coming to the mainland?"

The man sighed. Turning a bit, he set down the basket of fish in order to use his hands to make gestures to emphasize his point.

"It's because none of the other people living on the island will do business with her," he said, sticking a finger up in the air as if enunciating his words. Haku grew pensive as the man leaned in and cupped his hand to his mouth as if about to share some horrible secret. "Not long ago, she was taken away by spirits."

This time, Haku's eyes narrowed. He would admit to not knowing everything there is to know about the world, but he did have some knowledge of spirits thanks to Naruto and Akane. Spirits were beings who remained on this plain due to lingering regrets, and while some _were _malevolent and would try to harm people, they were also very easy to notice as they usually made an entire area feel uneasy.

However, those types of spirits were very rare. The chances of one being here, especially with a demon present in the area, was practically zero.

Still, while she might not have been taken by spirits, it's possible that she had been kidnapped by a shinobi, or maybe this demon had taken her and done something to her.

Could those bandages be hiding the damage?

He needed more information.

"Could you explain further, please?"

"Uh, sure," the man crossed his arms over his chest and squinted thoughtfully. "One day, a while ago, a bunch of people living on the island just up and vanished. The story is that out of all those people, only she turned up again."

Haku nodded his head. He was beginning to get a better picture of the situation, but he needed more information before coming to any conclusions.

"We're a pretty small village, so she makes everyone a bit nervous." Haku closed his eyes as scenes of his own lonely childhood played out to him. So similar, yet so different. "They say she lives outside the village now, alone."

"How sad..."

"Yeah, it is pretty sad," the man agreed. "Looking like that, covered in bandages and her being all on her own. But you've got to admit, it's pretty suspicious that she was the only one who returned."

Haku's lips thinned a bit at the man's remark. It was so off hand most people would have disregarded it, but for someone who had lived a life like Haku had, it was way too close to the mark.

"I hope you wouldn't mind if I bother you with one more question," Haku bowed to the man. When the older male indicated he didn't mind, the ice user continued. "You wouldn't happen to know where that girl lives, do you?"

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>Anko cursed. Sometime during her walk through the town towards the dock in order to get a boat, Haku had disappeared on her and because she had not been paying attention she had no clue where to find him. She didn't even know <em>when <em>he had disappeared on her.

It was this damn cursed seal! Ever since she had entered the stupid country it had been acting up, causing her pain and keeping her distracted. She could hardly focus on what she was doing, much less what the members of her squad were doing.

This was why she didn't want to let Naruto and Akane to leave. Aside from the fact that they were the most powerful members of this team, which sucked for her to admit by the way because they were technically genin even if one was an all powerful yokai and the other her Hanyou mate, Anko knew that even though they loved goofing off and hardly ever took anything seriously, she could count on them to support her when the time came. Now they were gone and she had no idea when they would be back.

Not that she blamed them. If there really was a demon in this country then someone would need to check it out. It had been centuries since real demons had been in the Elemental Nations. The closest to demons living on this continent were Yokai like the Bijuu, and they tended to stay out of human affairs. At least until they had all been captured due to human greed. Demons on the other hand, did not, and they were real nasty pieces of work.

That didn't really make her feel any better though. Even if she understood why they had to leave and investigate this possible demon appearance, she now only had Haku for back up, and as good as he was the young ice user was still only a Chunin level ninja.

Speaking of...

"There you are, icy!" Anko shouted out as she saw Haku speaking with some man who looked to be selling fish. Just why he was speaking with the guy in the first place was beyond her.

Not that she cared. She didn't. But it annoyed the crap out of her that she had been looking for Haku all this time and he had been talking to some fish seller.

"Anko-sensei," Haku bowed as the scowling woman walked up to him. "I was just speaking with this good man here," he gestured towards the old fish seller, "and I think I found a lead on our possible Kaima."

"Really?" Anko raised an eyebrow. She was only somewhat mollified by his words. "Well, you can tell to me while we walk. I've got us a boat and I want to be out of this town and into the sea before nightfall."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

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><p>"You know," Naruto said in a conversational tone as he and Akane walked through the dense foliage on the island where his mate believed the demonic presence was coming from. "When you mentioned there was a demon living on one of the four islands, I thought it would have been on Demon Island, not Taro Island."<p>

"**Don't be ridiculous, Naruto," **Akane scoffed at the idea of a demon living on Demon Island. **"Aside from the fact that it's far too cliché for a demon to live there, especially after it already housed a demon once centuries ago, most demons like making their homes where human settlements reside."**

"I guess, but you would think that they would be a bit more discreet about eating humans, you know? Moving onto an island where humans live is like painting a bulls eye on your back."

"**No one ever said demons were discreet," **Akane told him with a Gallic shrug of her shoulders. She absently brushed aside a group of vines that were in her way while Naruto simply cleared the path around him with wind chakra. **"Most demons are fairly mindless. Only the higher demons and Dire Beasts like summons and the generals from hell are intelligent enough to act covertly. They're not like shinobi, where stealth and disinformation are the bread and butter of warfare."**

"I suppose that makes sense..." Naruto still didn't see it, but guessed it was just due to his ignorance on demon culture. Akane had only taught him about Yokai, supernatural entities that humans often mistook for demons. He knew very little about actual demonkind, other than their lust for human flesh.

"**Of course it makes sense,"** Akane chided lightly. **"It also confirms my hypothesis about what we learned from those fishermen. They told us that the small town on this island went out of contact exactly two days ago. No messages have come from the village and the few people who gathered enough courage to check the place out were never heard from again. There are very few reasons I can think of why this would be, and none of them are pleasant."**

Naruto grimaced.

"Do you really think...?"

"**Yes, I do," **Akane interrupted, her tone soft as she realized what Naruto was thinking. **"You're going to want to prepare yourself, love. If my suspicion is correct, than you may have a hard time dealing with what we find when we get to that village they told us was on the other side of the Island."**

* * *

><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

* * *

><p>Within a dark chamber whose only light was a set of candles that flickered and wavered as if they might go out at any second, three people stood within.<p>

Technically speaking, only one was actually standing, but let's not get into semantics. The point is, there were three people in this chamber.

The first was a man who seemed to personify the term 'mad scientist'. His entire body was covered by dark clothing with an off white lab coat that reached down to his ankles thrown over it. He had scraggly looking long gray hair that was tied into a messy pony tail behind his head. The hair framed a face with a squarish jaw, large nose and beady black eyes that were currently looking at the ground with poorly concealed greed as he knelt upon the floor in deference.

The other two figures were shrouded in darkness. They were beyond the lights loving embrace. The man kneeling on the floor could see nothing of the two, save for their silhouettes and the yellow snake-like eyes of the one who was sitting on some kind of chair. This was the one that the scientist was showing deference to.

"It's been far too long, Orochimaru-sama," the scientist stated.

"Indeed it has," Orochimaru sounded amused. "It is most fortunate that I happened to drop by and found you still here."

"I'm the lucky one," the scientist was ass kissing. It was a basic tactic, groveling in the hopes it would get him what he wanted. This, more than anything else, amused Orochimaru. "For now I get to stand in your presence once again."

"Kukuku..." Orochimaru chortled as he observed the man from within the shadow that masked his visage from the scientist. "And I assume the reason you remain here is because you are continuing our research?"

"I am. I still believe it will someday be very useful to you, sir."

"I certainly hope so," Orochimaru did not really have interest in the research here anymore. His only reason for being here was that a situation had arisen that required him coming here to... clean house, so to speak.

"Of course, I only remain here out of my loyalty to you," the scientist lied through his teeth. Orochimaru almost chortled. Really, did this man think someone of his caliber could not see through such a blatant and obvious lie?

Oh well, not like it mattered now. This man was just a lose end that needed to be tied up. And what better way to do it than allow the Konoha ninja here to do it for him?

But, maybe he should give the man a chance? If nothing else, it would amuse him to see who would come out on top in this battle. His cute little former apprentice and her squadron of brats, or this man and his scaly experiments.

"You do know that there are Konoha Shinobi investigating the Kaima rumor, yes?" He watched as the man stiffened. It was so easy. So easy to twist this man's emotions. "They arrived sometime today and are on their way to mother island."

"I see," the scientist had not known that. "I suppose it would be prudent of me to activate the defensive measures than?"

"Yes," Orochimaru smiled, knowing that the scientist could not see him. "You do that, and as a show of good faith and appreciation for all your hard work, I will leave one of my most trusted subordinates in your care."

The scientists eyes flickered over to the shadowed figure standing at Orochimaru's side. Even though all that was visible was a silhouette, it was easy to tell from the dark outline that the person beside him was female. A very attractive one at that.

Not that beauty ever meant anything to Orochimaru, but it did to her.

And now for the games to begin. It would be interesting to see how the genin squad his former apprentice managed to become the squad leader of fared against one of his best shinobi. He had heard so many things about them.

"Kukukuku..."

* * *

><p><strong>And that's a wrap. This was the set-up chapter for the epic battles that will be coming next chapter. I hope you are all looking forward to them.<strong>

**After you leave a review, be sure to check out my blog: Thoughts and Wonderings of a Fanfiction Writer. That is where I will answer all of your questions. The link to my blog is on my profile.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24: Of Demons and Youkai**

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><p>Naruto looked around the village with a permanent grimace etched onto his face. What looked like it had once been a peaceful and quaint town located within the forests that surround Taro Island was now a ghost town. There was nothing. Nothing but the empty and burnt down remains of buildings that looked like they had been in disuse for hundreds of years rather than just a few weeks.<p>

His mate was right. No that they were here, he did not like what he saw. Everywhere he looked was a reminder of what had happened to the town.

On his left was a building that looked like it had served as a small place for meats and produce. Now all that was left was a partially destroyed building, the left wall collapsed, the cloth that served to provide shade to shoppers torn and a number of large marks that looked like someone had taken some kind of bladed weapon and dragged it through the walls, ceiling and floor.

The left provided much the same, only this building looked like it had once been a bookstore and someone had tossed a bundle of exploding notes inside and set them off. Much of the building as gone, scattered across the ground as whatever had exploded inside forced the rubble to burst outward in a circumference around the store. Naruto could see several chunks that had smashed through the walls of other buildings all around. As for the store itself, all that was left was a small, one foot high wall that as black, cracked and charred by whatever had done the building in.

No matter where they went, it was all the same; destroyed buildings, scorched earth, strange gouges in the ground and walls and not a single soul in sight. What made the whole scene even more disconcerting to him was the lack of blood. You think that if there had been a demon attack, there would be blood, right? Demons were a fairly savage breed, and they enjoyed violence and carnage. If nothing else, Naruto would have expected there to be several blood splatters all over the ground and walls.

"**Are you alright, love?"**

"I'm fine," Naruto gave Akane a wan smile. "Don't forget, I'm pretty used to seeing destruction on this scale. In fact, I think what we saw during the Kiri Civil War was much worse."

"**True," **Akane conceded before offering him a compassionate glance. **"But those deeds had been done by humans. This," **she gestured to the area around them, **"has not. You can tell by the distinct lack of blood."**

"I would have thought there would be more blood than less?"

"**You would think that, but that's because you don't know much about demons. I haven't told you a whole lot about them since I didn't think we would need to go into it so soon." **She shrugged. **"I guess a bit of a lesson on Demonology is needed."**

"**Unlike Youkai, which are supernatural beings that most humans liken to demons created by the Gods, demons are creatures that are created from the negative aspects of humanity. The best way to describe them is that demons are formed from the negative aspects possessed by humans, such as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony, or negative emotions like anger, hate, fear and grief etc. When a spiritual being or entity that has died holds one or more of these aspects in vast quantities, they are reborn as a demon."**

"**Of course, this is how demons first came into being long ago. Thanks to us Bijuu, a demon cannot be created like that in the Elemental Nations anymore, and we have sealed off the gates to the Underworld so no demon can come in through that way."**

"So how can they get here?" asked Naruto, "And how are they created if they can't be created with negative emotions anymore?"

"**They can't be created via negative aspects or emotions here," **Akane corrected. **"Us Bijuu have long since powered an international sized sealing array that seals up the power the negative aspects of human emotion holds. It was created and embedded deep within the world's crust by the Uzumaki Clan on the orders of Kami, which is actually how they ended up being gifted with that Soul Blade you wield." **Naruto nodded to her additive about his clan. He was not surprised she had such knowledge on his clan. **"However, with all the Bijuu now sealed, the seal will be weakening. It still works for now," **she reassured Naruto when she saw the look on his face, **"But in a few years, anywhere from 5 to 10, the seal will no longer be able to keep demons from being created into this world."**

Akane paused, using the time to not only catch her breath from her explanation, but also search the area a bit more thoroughly. She carefully lifted up a high-beam that had fallen into a doorway and kept her from entering the building she had been looking at, one of the few that was still intact. There was nothing there, so she put it back down and continued on her way.

"**As for how the demon got here, I only have theories. They could have come from across the seas, either by stowing away on a ship or swimming across. This doesn't look like it was done by any of the demons that specialize in water though, so I would suspect they had taken a ship. In which case, the demon is definitely one of a higher than normal intellect."**

"And the other possibility?" asked Naruto.

"**It could have been summoned," **Akane told him bluntly. **"There are a number or rituals that can be used to summon a demon. Most have been lost to the ages, but it is not out of the realm of possibility for one of those methods to be uncovered or even accidentally stumbled upon. The unfortunate thing about using seals to lock up the Underworld where most demons reside is that there is always a key that can unlock the seal."**

Calloused fingers closed around the hilt of a sword. "And how many keys are there?"

"**Too many to count," **Akane answered as her nails lengthened into claws. Along with this small change her eyes grew slitted and whiskers appeared on her face. A single tail also slid out from the flap they had made in her shorts. **"Each Bijuu sealed the power several aspects held. I sealed the seven most powerful aspects, those I mentioned before. I don't know how many or which aspects and emotions the other Bijuu sealed. We had determined that it would be best not to tell each other who sealed what. That way it would be impossible for someone looking to gain information on how to fully unlock the underworld from finding it out from one person."**

The atmosphere around them grew heavy, oppressive. A malicious presence filled the air, causing the hair on the back of Naruto's neck to stand on end. They were no longer alone.

A soft click signified a sword being unhooked from it's sheath but not drawn.

"Wouldn't that cause the seals to overlap if two Bijuu tried to seal the same aspect?"

"**No," **Akane's eyes grew wary as she watched the ground light up in a red haze of energy. **"If a Bijuu tried to seal an already sealed negative aspect of humanity, it just wouldn't work. There are hundreds if not thousands of negative aspects, so the likelihood of a Bijuu finding out all of the aspects that were sealed is impossible. And even if they did find out a certain aspect was already sealed, they wouldn't know who sealed it."**

"I see."

Something emerged from the ground around them. Circles. Red circles filled with thousands of intricate looking lines; a sealing array of such complexity that Naruto could only decipher one or two lines within them before they dispersed. Several seconds later the feelings of malice and hate increased as several dozen figures emerged from the ground.

"I think there is more than just one demon here."

"**No. There had only been one. Whatever demon originally came here is simply summoning these ones." **Akane narrowed her eyes. **"We'll have to defeat them all if we wish to discover who discover the one who did this."**

"Forcing the boss to come out by destroying his pawns, I see," Naruto smiled grimly as he fully unsheathed his blade, the hissing sound of steal being drawn resounding through the destroyed town. "I like that method. Why don't we get this party started?"

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><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

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><p>It wasn't long after finding Haku that she and the ice user found themselves on a small boat bound for Mother Island, the place where all of the disappearances were said to have happened.<p>

Of course, calling the dingy little vessel they were on a boat was something of an overstatement. It was really nothing more than a small skiff, a rowboat that didn't even have a motor to run it. Talk about underpowered.

"Why exactly am I the one who has to do all the rowing?" Haku asked in complaint as they continued to travel further out to sea. He had been rowing this damn boat for nearly twenty minutes now while all Anko did was sit there. His arms were beginning to get tired.

"You are doing the rowing because I am your sensei and I said you're doing the rowing," Anko answered with a large smile. There was nothing like delegating tasks beneath your status as an elite shinobi to those lower than you, like your genin, for instance.

"I think you're just lazy..."

"You say something?"

"Nothing!"

"Hmph. I thought not. Now keep rowing."

"...Yes, sensei."

As he continued to row the small skiff, Haku's eyes were constantly surveying the area around them. It was difficult to see at this time of night, but he could still spot the silhouette of the four islands located off the coast of Umi no Kuni. Other than those large shadows though, there was nothing. Even the water was too dark to see down.

"Sensei, I can't tell how far we are to mother island."

"Hmm?" Anko snapped out of her thoughts, if she had any, and straightened up at the sound of Haku's voice. She looked out at the large, black shape of Mother Island and squinted as she tried to calculate the distance. "I'd say we're about ten kilometers out. If we keep at the pace we're going, we should be there a little before daybreak."

"Great," Haku sighed, "It looks like I'm going a night without sleep."

"Hey, stop complaining," Anko chided. "Considering you were on the run with Zabuza for so long, you should be used to this..." Trailing off mid sentence, Anko only had enough time to sense that something was wrong before several large, sharp looking spikes made of what appeared to be some kind of tainted glass erupted from underneath her and Haku.

Despite being caught off guard, the two shinobi were quick on the uptake and managed to leap out of the skiff as it was turned into small chunks of debris and woodchips. The two landed on the water some distance away, channeling chakra to the bottom of their feet to keep from sinking.

"Sensei," Haku's voice was sharp as he entered the mind set of a shinobi that had been forced to analyze every situation quickly and precisely if they wanted to survive another day. "Those spikes look similar to my own Hyoton Jutsu. Whoever this person is may be a Kekkei Genkai user."

Anko frowned, but agreed with the ice user as she looked at the spike jutting out from what had previously been a skiff. The crystal was large, almost five feet in diameter here it broke the waters surface before shrinking as it moved up. At the very end it split into three sharp points, which had been what skewered there boat. Considering it looked like a good deal of the jutsu was underwater, there was no telling just how large the spike actually was.

"Huh? It looks like... crystal?"

"Pretty good guess for a couple of two bit Leaf ninja."

Said two leave ninja's eyes widened as they spun around to see the person who had snuck up on the so thoroughly that neither had even sensed her until she attacked. She was a fair skinned woman with dark eyes and light blue hair that she kept tied behind her in a spiky ponytail. A few long strands were worked out and framed a face that would have beautiful to behold were it not for the arrogant sneer on her ruby red lips.

Her clothing seemed to consist of a green dress with a long sleeve on the left and a short one on the right, a red turtle-neck with a white, fluffy collar and brown gloves. Underneath her dress was a red one piece suit and calf length, brown sandal boots.

"I'm surprised you actually managed to avoid my crystals," the woman began hand sealing before she even finished speaking. "Let's see how you do when the crystals can actually follow you. Shōton: Kurisutaru Ibara no Seichō (Crystal Release: Growing Crystal Thorns)!"

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><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

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><p>The demons that had been summoned were the ugly looking things Naruto had ever seen. They were human enough, at least in shape, but that was where most of the similarities ended. Their skin was a mottled gray that looked like it was dead and flaking off, they had clawed hands and their eyes were all red with no iris, pupil or sclera.<p>

Akane said they were the first of the Seven Hells of the Demon Army, Hell's Pride. They wore ragged, dark purplish looking cloaks that had strange patterns sown in on the hem around their hoods and wielded a large, nasty looking and crooked scythe with a spiked bottom that were apparently used for impaling downed enemies.

Several flashes of light was all that could be seen of Naruto's blade as it cut through several of the demons that had been summoned to ambush them. There was a resounding 'click' as a blade was sheathed. The demons surrounding the blond haired Hanyou soon fell apart, their bodies sliced to pieces by a countless number of cuts.

Taking a slow breath as he finished off the last group of enemies that had surrounded him, Naruto turned his head to look at his mate and see how she was doing with her batch of grunts.

Naturally, she was doing fine.

Akane was moving through her enemies with the grace of a dancer and the viciousness of an animal. Her long, sharp claws tore through the decaying flesh of the Hells Prides like a wind jutsu cuts through paper. Blood and gore splattered all around her as arms, legs and heads were sent sailing in all directions.

Naruto found her viciousness when battling demons kind of hot.

Several Hells Prides even ended up being impaled or sliced apart by their own weapons when they actually managed to swing at her. Akane would either simply pry the weapon out of their hands, often taking the hand and most of the arm with her, and hack them apart. Or she would let them kill each other by redirecting their attacks into one of the many demons surrounding her or positioning herself so that one of them was behind her and dodging when the Hells Pride in front of her made to attack.

When the last of her enemies had been slain, the red haired pseudo goddess walked over to him.

"Is that all of them?"

"**Looks like it,"** Akane looked around at all the demon corpses that littered the ground. Most had dissolved by now, leaving nothing more than ash, but a few still remained.** "Now all we do is wait for the Big Bad to show up."**

They didn't have the wait long, a few seconds later a strange, bluish dust formed coalesced into existence several inches to Naruto's left. This as followed by a purple blade made of what looked like a strange, glowing metal trying to bisect him. It was dodged when he jumped backwards, but it still managed to slice off a small sliver of his clothing.

A look at the spot where he had almost been cut in twine revealed what they would now be facing. It looked similar to those Hells Pride things they had taken care of a while ago, with only a few differences. For one thing, it was much bigger, nearly two-thirds taller than Naruto. It's cloak was a dark black and wrapped around it's form like a veil, the tattered ends fluttering in the breeze. Both it's eyes and mouth were glowing a bright blue, as if some kind of abominable energy were powering it.

Finally, there was the scythe. Naruto's first thoughts on it being made out of some kind of strange metal were correct. It was an unusual weapon whose blade was made from a glowing purple material that looked razor sharp and possessed strange, organic looking patterns on it's surface. There were four spikes sticking out of it; one on the top, another on the opposite side that the main blade was on and the last one on the bottom. It definitely looked like a vicious weapon.

"**A Hell Vanguard," **Akane identified as the thing began teleporting around the clearing within that strange dark blue sand. **"I'm not surprised. They're usually the ones who control the Seven Hells, though they too are often little more than grunts with more intelligence than Low level Demons."**

"Threat level?"

"**Not very high. You should be able to kill it easily. Just be careful of it's ability to fly and teleport."**

"Right." Naruto gripped the hilt of his blade with his fingers and took a wide stance that lowered his center of gravity. "In that case, why don't you sit this one out while I deal with ugly here."

"**I plan to," **Akane moved back so as to give her mate more room to maneuver. For good measure, she also brought up a red barrier that surrounded her and would keep something as weak as the Hell Vanguard from attacking her. **"This will be good experience for you to get your first true fight against a Demon with."**

The Hell Vanguard soon began using that teleporting ability it possessed to randomly show up around the clearing. Sometimes it would move further away from Naruto, other times it moved closer. Yet it never attacked.

Naruto was sure it was doing this to try and confuse him. Rather than let it's constant popping up around the clearing bother him, the blond Hanyou hunkered and played the waiting game. His breathing slowed, his eyes became lidded, and his sense of spatial awareness expanded and sharpened into a finely honed edge as he waited for his opening.

It came soon enough. Just like he had suspected, the constant use of it's ability to jump from one place to another was simply to confuse him before it moved in for the kill. A few dozen hops later the blue sand appeared right underneath him and less than a second after that, the Hell Vanguard popped out from within it's murky depths and tried to vivisect him.

A short hop backwards allowed Naruto to avoid being injured. Pushing off the balls of his feet, he Dashed forward. As he closed the distance with the Hell Vanguard, his blade flashed out of it's sheath so quickly there wasn't even a hiss of steel.

There was a brief flicker of light where the blade could be seen lashing out in a quick slice at the Vanguard. Such an attack would have normally cut whatever he was fighting in half. And it would have, had the Vanguard not used it's ability to teleport to vanish within that dark blue sand before the blade could cut through it.

"Tch!"

Naruto jumped into the air and used his own Yokai as a platform to push himself even higher. It was a good thing because he managed to avoid the Demon bursting into reality behind him and carving his back up with that scythe.

As he descended, Naruto's blade came down in a long stroke that was meant to split the Hell Vanguard down the middle. It didn't, and instead a loud 'clang!' of steel striking against steel was heard as the Demon held it's scythe in both hands and used the middle of the metal pole to block Hikage Ookami and save itself from a gruesome death.

Undeterred by the failed attack, Naruto pushed off the pole and flipped through the air. He landed on the ground several feet from the creature, and then he vanished.

SLICHT! CLICK!

The sound of metal cutting through flesh was incredibly loud in the small clearing of the deserted town. The Hell Vanguard stood still for but a moment before it's legs buckled and fell. At the same time, the upper half of it's body began to slide off it's waist. Both halves hit the ground with a dull thud, revealing Naruto standing behind it, his blade already slid into it's sheath.

"**That wasn't bad,"** Akane congratulated her mate on his first kill of a Middle Class Demon. **"But you could have been faster. Had you used Shunshin during your first attack, you would have killed it."**

"I wasn't prepared for how quickly it could teleport," Naruto shrugged. "It caught me off guard."

"**Well, now that you know, I expect you to not get caught off guard like that again," **Akane told him. **"Such a low level Demon should not be even remotely capable of standing up to someone as strong and skilled as you for any longer than half a minute. That battle took a full sixty seconds."**

Uh oh. It looked like Akane was in 'Sensei Mode' at the moment. He hadn't had to deal with that for a good while now. Still, he supposed the new situation they found themselves in necessitated her critiquing.

He wondered how Anko and Haku were doing without them? Surely, their beautiful sensei missed getting bombarded with sexual innuendo.

Yeah, right.

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><p><strong><strong>~Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf~<strong>**

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><p>"Shit!" Anko's curse rang out in the watery battlefield as she was forced to jump around to avoid the crystal thorns that kept growing off the strange plant-like pink crystal that the crazy bitch who had attacked them created. She swerved and ducked and dodged and jumped, doing everything humanly possible to avoid letting those sharp tips that formed at the end of each new outgrowth from impaling her.<p>

Haku was in the much same position. Thankfully for the younger and less experienced boy, the woman seemed to be focusing the majority of her efforts on Anko, allowing him some breathing room with which to move and make decisions. And he needed to make one fast. Those spikes were getting dangerously close to Anko and he had no clue how long she could keep going.

And there was no Log for her to substitute with. A dangerous position for any leaf ninja to find themselves.

With his skills in observation, Haki was more than capable of noticing something that Anko would have likely missed even if she wasn't dodging crystallized spikes of Doom. Not only had Guren not moved since she had unleashed her jutsu. Not only that, but it was clear she had to concentrate on making more hand seals in order to make that ice crystal of hers grow.

The most reasonable assumption? If he as able to distract Guren, she wouldn't be able to make hand seals, and if she couldn't make hand seals then they would have a moment of in time where they could close the distance and attack her.

Making a snap decision, Haku began going through a set of hand seals before slamming his hands on the waters surface. "Hyoton: Korashira (Ice Release: Ice Pillars)!" The water under his palms rippled. The ripples spread outwards. Without warning, more ripples appeared on the waters surface.

That was the only warning Guren got before ice pillars erupted all around her. Cursing, she as forced chakra into her feet and pushing herself into the air. She had just managed to ascend past the ice pillars when she was met by Anko, who had used the opportunity Haku had given her to close the distance between the two of them.

What followed that was a mid air Taijutsu battle. Fist and feet flew between the two fierce kunoichi at speeds that would look like nothing more than mere blurs to the average genin.

A hand flew forward towards Guren's face at speeds that blurred at great speeds. It was deflected when an arm came up and slapped it away. That same arm was then thrust forward into a knife strike towards Anko's throat. It too was avoided when Anko moved her head back and her fist came out to catch the knifed hand.

"I recognize that fighting style," Guren smirked as she and Anko landed on the water's surface. Anko still had a strong hold of her fist. Their arms were both shaking as they tried to overpower the other. "So... you're Orochimaru's little apprentice."

"Fucking Bitch!" Anko's knee shot out and tried to shove itself into her gut. It was blocked by Guren's own knee coming up. "That sadistic son of a bitch isn't my sensei! And I'll kill him for betraying Konoha!"

"Don't insult Orochimaru-Sama because of your own weakness!" Guren growled and pushed the other woman away. She soon began making more hand seals. "The only reason he threw you away like trrash was because you lack the ambition, drive and talent necessary to be a part of his forces! Shōton: Kuhari (Crystal Release: Crystal Needles)!"

Several dozen long, sharp, pointed pink and white needles shot out from the water and blasted straight towards Anko, who had begun her own hand sealing after she had been pushed away. "Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!" Bringing a hand to her lips, she breathed out a large ball of fire that exploded against the ice crystals.

Unfortunately for her, the ice crystals were much stronger than they looked. The fire was soon dispersed and they continued towards her unabated.

"Crap!"

Anko had barely even a second before she was beset upon by the crystal needles. Over a dozen bright pink and white crystals impaled her body. Blood began running down the crystals as the woman went limp.

Guren smiled, but it only lasted until she heard a shout of, "Hyoton: Aisurancu (Ice Release: Ice Lance)!" She was then forced to jump out of the way as a large lance made of ice nearly impaled her from behind.

"Hmph. Trying to take advantage of me while I'm distracted? Nice try, kid, but I'm not that easy."

Haku just smiled pleasantly. "Apparently, you are."

"What?"

"Sen'ei Tajashu (Many Hidden Shadow Snakes)!"

Guren's eyes widened. She looked up just as a shadow fell across her field of vision and saw an uncountable number of snakes descending upon her. There were so many that they had managed to block out the now rising sun.

"Dammit!"

She moved, speeding backwards with rapid hops. The snakes hit the water she had been standing on, creating a loud crash and a giant wall of water to rise up. As water hit Guren's face in the form of a light mist, the snakes burst from the slowly sinking wall and chased after her like a pack of rabid animals.

"Did you forget already!? I've been working with Orochimaru-Sama for years! I know all the possible jutsu you can use against me and know how to counter them!" Guren began going through several more hand seals. She would show this idiot how big of a mistake she made in using one of her old sensei's jutsu.

"Did you forget I'm not alone!"

"Sensatsu Suihō (Thousand Flying Water Needles)!"

"What!?" Guren's growled as the water around her rose up from the surface, hovered in midair, and proceeded to morph into the shape of a large number of water needles. Though the name suggested there were only a thousand, it looked like there were much more. Maybe even tens of thousands. There was enough of them that they formed an impenetrable barrier around her, blocking all possible routes of escape.

All except one.

As the needles of watery death flew towards her from all sides, Guren cut the flow of chakra to her feet and dropped into the water. The needles all exploded in a shower of liquid as they struck each other, sending sprays of water everywhere. When the water dispersed back into the ocean, there was no sign of Guren.

Anko and Haku looked warily at the spot Guren had been. Both of them concluded that if her bloody corpse was not floating face down in the water, then she was obviously still alive. The two quickly put themselves on guard, each prepared for when the woman would undoubtedly have to rise again.

"Shotōn: Hashō Kōryū (Crystal Release: Tearing Crystal Falling Dragon)!" The attack they were looking for came soon enough. It wasn't very subtle. In fact, it would have been more subtle to bull rush them head on screaming 'HERE I COME!' like some kind of idiot than what they were facing.

What were they facing? A Dragon. A big ass, serpentine dragon that was nearly sixty meters in length, made of light pink crystallized water and two green diamond shaped eyes. And standing atop of that dragon, holding onto the two large, pink crystal horns sticking out of it's head was none other than a pissed off looking Guren.

"Well shit."

Anko was very concise in her thoughts.

"That is one big dragon."

Haku wasn't much better.

The dragon bellowed out a loud roar cry – which was strange because it was made of crystal and not actually alive, but whatever – then it rushed forward, intent on crushing the two who had attacked the one that created it.

Anko and Haku jumped away from each other. The dragon swerved and rushed after Anko, who Guren still deemed to be the greater threat. Or maybe she was just pissed by the things the woman said about Orochimaru? The only person who had the answer to such a question was none other than Guren herself.

Having a giant, floating pink lizard chasing after you was not fun as Anko could tell anyone who asked. The damn thing was tenacious. No matter what she did to try and avoid it, the thing kept on fallowing her.

Guren's taunts weren't helping much either. If anything, the woman's insulting words were even more distracting then the giant lizard. Really, if that bitch didn't have a giant ass crystal dragon keeping one of her kunai from impaling the cunts pretty little face.

"Hyoton: Kōri Chikyū (Ice Release: Ice Dragon Rips the Earth)!"

Anko ran like a bat out of hell as the water under feet surged upwards, shift and morphing. Soon, the blue liquid took on a shape almost identical to the pink crystal, a dragon. It was a little bit smaller, and looked a bit more streamlined, with a more serpentine head and lithe body structure. There were no horns on it's head. It's color was ice blue instead of pink and white, and the eyes were a bright purple.

Opening it's mouth in roar, the beast charged towards the dragon the pink and white one. Guren swore loudly as she was forced to abandon her dragon, charging chakra into her feet and jumping high into the air. The two dragon collided head on, exploding into a thousand pink, white and blue shards of mixed ice and crystal. The sharpened remains scattered across the battlefield, hitting the water as the three ninja leapt away from the hail of deadly projectiles.

Not wanting to lose any momentum, Anko rushed forward, lashing out at Guren with a knife strike as soon as she was within range.

It was dodged when the woman in question sidestepped and launched her own attack, a high kick aimed towards Anko's head. That attack might of hit had it not been for Haku, who descended from above and forced the leg back down by jumping on it.

What followed after that was Haku and Anko double teaming Guren, who found herself hard pressed to do anything more than stay on the defense. While their teamwork was not perfect, the jonin and genin still managed to fight together effectively, making counterattacking either one of them very difficult.

Guren ducked under a spin kick as Anko came in high. Her arms crossed themselves in front of her face as a foot from Haku came flying at her as soon as she crouched, almost as if the boy had predicted this was what she would do. There was a loud bang as sandaled foot met clothed arm and Guren was sent skidding across the water's surface, creating waves in her wake.

Even gaining some distance from Haku did not give Guren reprieve. As soon as she stopped moving, she was forced to move again as Anko descended upon the water's surface where she had been with a loud crash, her foot extended in an axe kick. This was followed by several dozen icy spikes of death rushing up from the water's surface to impale her.

Practically flying backwards as she tried to avoid the spikes, Guren found herself running headlong into Anko. She managed to dodge the first attack, a karate styled chop to her shoulder, but the kick to her left arm sent her body spinning. Even though she managed to regain balance relatively quickly, it was not fast enough for her to fully avoid the water needles that scratched against her torso.

Before too long, Haku was once again engaging her in taijutsu. Ignoring her now bleeding side, Guren gave as good as she got, exchanging a flurry of power and fast blows. Each strike between the two of them caused a mild gust of wind to push against their faces, ruffling their hair.

While Haku was keeping Guren busy with some close range combat, Anko snuck up behind the woman and aimed a strike towards the back of her neck. A killing strike that would severe her spine. Guren dodged it, of course, but it was revealed to be a feint when half a dozen snakes shot from her sleeves and wrapped around her.

"Kami dammit!"

"Looks like we finally managed to trap you in our net, little crystal user," Anko smiled smugly. "Now we just need to get you into port where I can do a proper interogation..." the snake mistress shuddered in bliss, her cheeks suddenly becoming very flushed. "Oooh, I just can't wait to hear the screams you make as I torture you, your sanity slowly eroding as you face unspeakable horrors and cough up every single secret that fucking prick has... It's going to be so delicious."

"A-Anko-sensei," Haku's fearful voice broke her reverie. "Are you... you're not a..."

"A what?"

Haku's face turned beat red. He looked over at Guren and leaned and cupped a hand to his mouth. "You're not a sadist, are you?"

"Brat, I am the ultimate sadist."

Haku backed away in fear.

"What makes you think I'm going to be giving you leaf idiots any information?" asked Guren. Anko raised a single, delicate eyebrow.

"Umm... I'm going to torture you until your sanity erodes and you spill every single one of Orochimaru's secrets. Were you not listening to me earlier?"

"Oh no. I heard you," Guren gave a dark smile. "I was just wondering what made you think I was going to let you interrogate me?"

Anko frowned. "You say that like that you have a choice."

"Of course I have a choice," Guren smiled at the Snake Mistress before her entire body stiffened. Anko's eyes widened as patches of pink and white appeared on Guren's skin and clothing. Before long, barely even three seconds, the person in front of them became a solid block of pink and white crystal.

"A Crystal Clone?" Anko grit her teeth. The snakes wrapped around the clone and shattered the crystal into a dozen pieces as they squeezed in an extension of Anko's anger. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! I can't believe I let myself get fooled by that bitch so easily! I should have realized she'd substituted herself with a clone!"

"It just goes to show you how skilled that woman was," Haku said calmly. Someone needed to be calm in this situation. "That she could seamlessly replace herself with a crystal clone that she had made without either of us noticing is no small feat. That kind of skill is on the same level as Zabuza-Sama and Kakashi-san. She's definitely someone to watch out for."

"Ha..." Anko sighed. "I guess you're right. I suppose we should just be thankful that both of us were fighting her. Had we been fighting against her one on one, we would have lost."

It rankled her to admit that, but Anko knew where her limits lie. As good as she was, she was no Hatake Kakashi.

"What should we do now?"

Anko sighed as she looked around at their former battlefield. When Anko had been given this mission, she had not been anticipating that their two most powerful members would have to deal with a Demon threat while she and Haku were forced into battle against one of her bastard of a former sensei's henchmen, and a powerful one at that. Now there skiff had been destroyed, it was no morning, and the nearest port was still a good dozen kilometers away.

"We walk from here to the nearest port town, what else?" Anko hiked her thumb in the direction of Mother Island. "If we stay here, we'll eventually run out of chakra and then have to swim our way to town." She scratched the back of her head and began walking. "Come on, Icy, let's get going."

Haku sighed as he began to obediently follow his sensei. Not like he had anything better to do.

Why couldn't she have chosen a better nickname for him?

He blamed Akane and Naruto for this. Somehow, he just knew it was there fault.

* * *

><p><strong>Made some corrections to this, but not many. I just fixed up the part about demonology. Let me know what you think.<strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**BIG NEWS!**

**As of a few weeks ago, I finally managed to finish writing my first original novel! Currently, I am looking into getting it professionally copy and line edited by someone. After that I plan on Self-Publishing my novel using Print on Demand, or POV for short. I am hoping that my book will be available on Amazon and other websites before my birthday in March. And I hope you will all support me by ordering a book and letting me know what you think when it does come out.**

**For those who are curious to know what my novel is about, here is the summary for my hopefully soon to be published novel, American Kitsune, A Fox's Love:**

Kevin Swift finds his entire world turned on its head when the gorgeous vixen, Lilian Pnév̱m, decides that he is the perfect mate for her.

Yesterday, the only thing Kevin had to worry about was turning his next homework assignment in on time and gathering what meager courage he has to ask his secret crush, Lindsay Diane, out on a date. All of that changes when he finds a small, injured fox with two tails and decides to take it home with him. Turns out that small fox is not a fox at all, but a Kitsune, a supernatural creature found in Japanese Mythology and Folklore that can shape-shift from a fox into a drop dead gorgeous red head that defines the term smokin' hot. Want to know what's even more interesting? This Kitsune has fallen head over heels in love with Kevin and is willing to do anything to make him love her back. Too bad our Hapless Hero has a serious case of Cannot Talk to Women.

**Sounds interesting, right? I hope you guys will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it when it comes out.**

**And now that I have thoroughly bored you to tears with my ecstatic ranting, I will let you do what you came here to do and read the next chapter of Story of the Ten Tailed Wolf.**

**Enjoy.**

**Chapter 25: The Beautiful, the Bad, the God Damn Hideous**

* * *

><p>Guren's lip curled in distaste as she walked down the dark, dank hallway to the central laboratory where the person she was searching for would most likely be found. She never did like these darkened corridors. They simply weren't fit for someone as beautiful as her. This particular corridor was even worse because it was dripping wet and smelled of raw fish.<p>

She hated the smell of raw fish. Or raw anything for that matter.

Upon reaching the end of the corridor, Guren was met with a large door, which she opened upon reaching. On the other side of the door was a large room lined with glass containers and test tubes that were full of odd looking creatures, most of which were dead, with only a few that still had life in them.

Guren walked right passed the containers without even bothering to look at their contents. She was more then used to seeing some of Orochimaru's experiments, and the sight did not bother her.

Standing near a terminal that was situated in front of one of the containers that contained a particularly lively specimen was the person she was searching for. He looked like he was cataloging data or doing something else that involved his research.

Guren did not care for any of that. She had no interest in research.

"Amachi," Guren said, causing the man to turn around.

"Ah, Guren," Amachi smiled amicably, though, Guren could tell it was fake. "Back from your hunt? Have you taken care of our pest problem?"

"Unfortunately, they were stronger then expected and managed to catch me off guard," Guren replied with a bit of a scowl. She hated admitting to any kind of failure or weakness, even if it was to someone who was far inferior to her. "But I wouldn't worry too much. Now that I know what they are capable of, I'll be able to handle them much more easily when we fight again."

"That's good to know," Amachi said breezily, as if he did not really care what Guren said. It was an action that caused the woman standing before him to scowl. "Let me know if you need any help. While I have yet to actually complete my research, I have managed to create several creatures that should prove useful as aquatic canon fodder."

Guren was about to reject the man's offer out of hand when she paused.

"I believe I may have some use for these creations of yours," she said after several seconds of silent contemplation.

"I am glad to see my creations can be of some use."

Amachi gave Guren a pleased smile that had a hint of... something Guren couldn't quite identify. She did not like that look, but as he was not doing anything that would be considered treason against Orochimaru, she did not say anything.

"Come, let me show you some of my creations."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>After the battle against the crystal user, Anko and Haku made their way to Mother Island.<p>

Because their skiff had been destroyed, they'd been forced to water walk the rest of the way. It had been trying, to say the least. Anko had decently large reserves that were a bit above the average Jonin and Haku was around the level of a Chunin. Neither of them were chakra monsters. Certainly, they had nowhere near the amount of chakra Naruto and Akane had. By the time they had arrived at the shore, Haku's chakra was nearly depleted and Anko was starting to feel a bit tired as well.

"What should we... do now?" asked Haku, breathing heavily. The walk had taken its toll on him, and the ice user was about ready to pass out right then and there. Only his experience with similar situations due to his being on the run from hunter ninja for several years kept him from falling asleep in the middle of the port.

And speaking of the port, Haku took a moment to glance around at the place they had arrived at. It was very empty. Save for a few boats and vessels stationed there, the place was bereft of anything resembling life.

This was not surprising. With it being so late out, everyone was likely already asleep.

"We need to find a place to stay for the night," Anko answered. As she said this, she began walking into the port town. Haku did not hesitate to follow the woman as she continued speaking. "Our meeting with the shipping company is tomorrow, so we'll want to be well-rested for that. Thankfully, it's not until noon, so we should be able to get a full eight hours of sleep before we have to meet with them."

"What about Naruto-san and Akane-san?"

"Those two will be fine," Anko spoke with complete surety. "I can't see either of them being killed by a couple of two-bit demons. Can you?"

Haku paused for a moment, thinking. A second later he shook his head.

"No, those two are the strongest people I've ever met. I doubt anything short of the world ending would be enough to put them down."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>It was still dark when Naruto and Akane arrived on Mother Island. The sun had been down for several hours now, making the duo suspect it was actually very early in the morning.<p>

The streets were completely empty. There was not a soul in sight as the two walked down the road. Though, given the hour, this was kind of understandable. Who would be up this late anyways except for party goers looking to get drunk? No one, that's who.

"I'm sure that Anko and Haku are already here," Naruto said, turning his head this way and that as he spoke, surveying their new surroundings. The place really wasn't all that different from any other port town they had visited, or any other town for that matter. "We should probably find them."

"**I agree," **Akane nodded at his words, emphasizing her agreement with his basic plan of action. **"Though, they are more then likely asleep." **Which would make sense, since it was so late out and everything. **"Still, it shouldn't take me too long to find them."**

"No need," Naruto sniffed the air a couple of times, a smile creeping on his face. He nodded to himself, once, then looked at his mate and grinned. "I've already found them."

With a smile that matched his, Akane kicked her feet off the ground. She followed Naruto, her form a mere blur to the world around them, as he made his way towards where he scented Anko and Haku.

It didn't take Akane long before she also began to smell the pair in the air. They both had very distinctive scents. Anko smelled of Dango, red bean paste and snakes; and Haku smelled like senbon, oil and exotic herbs. Very few beings in this world would have a scent even remotely similar to theirs.

The pair found Anko and Haku on the second floor of a small inn. The rooms only had a single bed, which Anko was sleeping on. Their ice using friend was sleeping on the floor in a fuuton.

The two immortal beings looked at each other and smiled.

It was a very mischievous smile.

Poor, poor Anko.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>As night turned into day, a number of people began to rouse from their slumber. These people were those who needed to get an early start on their day if they wanted their businesses to be ready in time for the morning rush. Bakers, shop owners, stall owners, all the people who sold some kind of product or service had gotten up bright and early, just as the sun began to rise, in order to prepare their shop, store or stall for the new day.<p>

One particular stall owner was setting up his own stand near a random hotel. He was an old man, with a slouched back due to years of bad posture and age, and a lot of wrinkles lining his face and bald head. His clothing was about what you would expect from an old man, plain gray pants, white shirt and a red vest over it. Truly, there was nothing remarkable about this man.

As the old man set up his small stall, which sold Taiyaki, he hummed a small tune to himself. It was a simple tune, one that he had known ever since his childhood. His mother used to sing it to him back when he was nothing more then a child, and it was one he had sung to his own children and their grandchildren.

You could say this song had been in his family for a long time.

It was while he was humming this song that his daily routine was interrupted.

"KKKYYYAAAAAA!"

A loud scream pierced the morning air. The shrill, whistle like shriek was loud enough and sharp enough that several windows to the hotel his stall was in front of shattered like, well, glass. Even a few of the windows that belonged to the buildings on either side of the hotel shattered, raining glass fragments upon the ground below.

Despite being old, the man who suddenly found mass amounts of sharp, deadly projectiles raining down on him was startlingly quick to react. Like a frightened animal that just heard the 'bang!' of a gun going off, he dove underneath the table.

Huddling up, he wrapped his arms around his legs and pulled his knees to his chest as the 'tink, tink, tink, tink' sound of a thousand shards of glass raining down on his stand echoed within the small space underneath.

When the sounds of glass clattering against the wood of his stall ended, the old man stayed underneath, waiting. He waited for several more seconds before poking his head out to look around. His old, wizened eyes surveyed the area, looking left, then right, up and then down. When he saw nothing more then the wood of his stall, the wall of the hotel and the broken glass that now littered the street, he carefully stepped out from underneath his stall.

Just as he was about to restart setting up his stall, the old man saw something that made him stop everything.

Looking down at the wooden grain of his stall, the old man could see what had to be at least several hundred glass shards embedded into the wood. Like tiny claws belonging to the minions of hell trying to claw their way to the surface world, these glass shards looked like sharp, pointed nails jutting from the wooden board.

The old man scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"This is going to take a while to clear away..."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Akane, Anko, Haku and Naruto found themselves walking down the street, all of them looking to be in a variety of different moods.<p>

The two immortal entities were grinning from ear to ear with an expression that let anyone within walking distance see how pleased they were with themselves.

Of course, if you were to ask either one of them, they would gladly tell you they had every right to be pleased.

On the other hand, Haku was looking quite exasperated, messaging his forehead as if to try and stall a coming headache. And at the other end of the spectrum was Anko, whose face was so red it could be mistaken for a hot forge. There was also an angry scowl on her lips to go along with her atomically flushed cheeks.

"Aw, come on, _sensei,_" Naruto said, grinning when he saw Anko visibly shudder as he emphasized the word 'sensei'. "It was just a little harmless fun... and besides, you really should be used to us sneaking into your bed by now."

"**I don't see why you would have a problem with it anyways," **Akane giggled like some kind of school girl. It was very uncharacteristic of her, but she was having so much fun at the moment that the OCness was perfectly understandable. **"I mean, you have the hottest stud this side of the Elemental Nations and the most desirable woman on the planet in your bed. What right do you have to complain?"**

"Stow it! Both of you!"

At hearing Anko's angry answer, the two grinned at each other before proceeding to snicker into their hands. Of course, the way they did so ensured that Anko could hear them, thus increasing the amount of red currently present on the face of the woman with dark purple hair.

Haku just sighed deeply as he watched and listened to the antics of his teammates.

"I wonder if it's too late to ask Hokage-Sama if I can transfer teams..."

The four shinobi were currently walking down the now bustling roadway of the port town on Mother Island. With the sun now shining down on the little city, the people had finally decided to get up and begin their day. There were people crowding the streets, shopping at various stalls and stores, and eating out at open air cafes as they laughed and conversed with friends and family. Several children could be seen running through the street, playing a game of tag most likely, weaving between the legs of people much taller then they were.

It was this crowd that the group of ninja waded through as they made their way inexorably to their destination.

Said destination was a large building that was designed in the traditional architecture most often found in the Elemental Nations. Unlike the more modern buildings, which were actually a more recent development that had caught on around a century ago when outsiders first set foot onto this land, the traditional buildings were built more along the lines of what you would expect from some of the more rural areas of the continent.

The group made their way up the steps, towards the large set of wooden double doors. As the one in charge, Anko was in the lead. The moment they reached the door, she knocked on it exactly three times, the banging of which could be heard echoing inside of the building.

A few seconds later the door was opened and a young man stood on the other side.

"Can I help you four?" he asked.

"We're the shinobi your company hired for the protection detail," Anko informed the man, who couldn't be older then 18 or so. As she said this, she also held out a small scroll that contained the details of their mission, along with the official seal of Konoha and the signature of both the Hokage and the man who had asked for the mission.

The young man unrolled the scroll and read through it. Nodding to himself, he then rolled the scroll back up and handed it back to Anko.

"Everything seems to check out. Please, come inside and I will show you to the ships financial administrator."

The group walked inside and followed the young man. As they moved through the small, narrow hallway, they took note of how the decore on the inside matched the architectural style on the outside exactly. It was all very traditional; tatami flooring, paper walls and sliding shoji doors. Their sandaled feet clacked excessively against the floor, creating a staccato symphony as they were led to one sliding door in particular.

Kneeling down, the young man opened the door a crack and poked his head inside. "The group from Konoha is here to see you," he announced to whoever was inside. While Anko and Haku were unable to hear the answer, Akane's and Naruto's sense of hearing was more then acute enough to pick up someone from inside the room granting permission for them to enter. They were therefore unsurprised when the young man fully opened the door and looked up at them.

"You may go in now."

Walking into the room, the four Konoha shinobi studied the interior, which was just a standard meeting room that most business transactions of this nature took place in. Really, the only thing interesting about the room wasn't even the room itself, but the samurai standing guard along the far wall and the man sitting in seiza behind a low-rising wooden table.

"You must be the Konoha shinobi," the man said by way of greeting. "I am pleased to see you all made it here safe and sound. Please, take a seat and we can get down to business."

While Anko moved forward to sit right in front of the table, Akane, Haku and Naruto took their seats behind her, as dictated by protocol.

Sometimes, being listed as a genin in the Konoha ranking books really sucked.

While they made themselves comfortable, the whiskered member of their group took this time to study the man who had hired them for this mission. He was fairly old, Naruto judged him to be passed his middle ages, likely somewhere around 50 or maybe 60. He was bald on top, but had graying hair wrapped around the lower half of his head that extended into a large beard that covered much of his face. Dark eyes were set on either side of a large nose and a pretty big pair of lips was situated underneath the man's impressively sized snoz.

"I am the ships financial administrator. My name is Hitodei," the man introduced himself with a small bow of the head, an action that was reciprocated by Anko.

"Well met. I'm Mitirashi Anko. With me are my genin squad, Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Akane and Yūki Haku. We're here on behalf of Konoha, who you requested aid in protecting your ship and its cargo while en route to Mizu no Kuni."

"That is correct, and I am pleased to see Konoha respond so quickly. As you might know, our relationship with Mizu no Kuno is very fragile right now, due in part to the Kaima's attacks on Mizu no Kuni ships. In order to try and foster good relations, and hopefully avoid any further complications, the decision was made to push our departure forward. It is very fortunate that you arrived when you did."

"I see," Anko murmured thoughtfully. She took a few seconds to pause and think, before nodding her head. "Do not worry. Even with the change in timetables, our missions parameters remain the same; protect your ship, its crew and cargo at all costs."

"Thank you for your cooperation." The man's relief was visible as he let out a deep gust of air. "There is one more thing I would like to inform you about."

Anko looked curiously at the man. "Yes?"

"As you have no doubt seen for yourself, our nation is not a wealthy one. And recently our people, our fishermen especially, have become extremely nervous about this Kaima." Once more, the man bowed before Anko. It was not quite Dogeza, but was definitely more respectful then what most people would give to a shinobi who was not a kage. "Anything you can do about this monster would be greatly appreciated."

Anko looked at the man for several moments, contemplating his request.

Behind her, Naruto and Akane looked at each other, then over at Haku, who had been very silent since they had entered the building.

"Don't worry," Anko said at last. "We'll do everything we can to eliminate this threat _before _your ship sets sail."

Once more, the old financial administrator bowed low. "We are very grateful to you."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>After the meeting with the financial administrator was finished, the group of Konoha ninja made their way outside again. With the sun now bearing down on their heads from over high, signifying it was nearing mid-day, the two shinobi plus one Hanyou plus one immortal demigodess Youkai walked along the road.<p>

It was while they were walking that the group made their plans for the coming days. They had four days before the ship left port, which was about a week ahead of schedule, but not something they were overly concerned with. Leaving early just meant spending less time in this small town.

The real question was about what they should do in the meantime.

Thankfully, they already had a task they needed to complete in the coming days set. All they needed to do was complete it.

"We should start digging up clues on possible whereabouts of the Kaima by asking the locals," Anko was saying as they wove through the crowds of people. "We may be able to discover some interesting information if we asked some of the local fishermen, since they're the ones the Kaima rumors originated from."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Naruto grinned placed his hands behind his head, fingers laced and being used to support his cranium as he leaned back slightly and looked up at the sky. "Though, I'm not really one for digging around for rumors. Never liked sleuthing about. I'm more of a straight fighter kind of guy. Launch me at an enemy and watch me kick ass! That's what I like to do. Snooping around for clues is boring."

"Yeah, well, get used to it," Anko said, snorting at the boy. "Digging up rumors and sifting through everything you've learned in order to find the truth is what being a shinobi is all about. We're experts on stealth, espionage and information gathering; though, a lot of people seem to have forgotten our roots these days. Most new ninja only see shinobi as people who can breath fireballs and control the elements." She shook her head in disappointment. "Bunch of rank amateurs."

"**You're a lot closer to the truth then you might expect, Anko." **As the voice of the oldest among them spoke up, two sets of heads turned to look at Akane. **"You ninja didn't always have chakra, not until the Rikudou Sennin came along. Before that, ninja had to rely on their wits and their talents in stealth to get by. Back during that time, shinobi were in small supply, only the best of the best, the most elite, made anything of themselves. The rest were killed off because they weren't good enough. It was much tougher back then."**

"I'll bet," Anko looked at the other woman curiously. "You know, I keep forgetting that you're not just a normal shinobi and have been around for a long time. You probably have a lot of knowledge locked away inside that head of yours. I bet you've got a lot of stories to tell."

"**I have many tales that I could weave. You could listen to me for years and never hear about half the things I've done and seen in my life."**

As Anko began conversing a bit more with the red head, Naruto turned to look at the last of their companions.

Haku was staring off into space, a pensive expression on his face as he worried his lower lip. It made the boy look very, well, girly, but Naruto just assumed that was mostly due to his androgynous looks.

Nudging the ice using ninja in the shoulder, the blond-haired Ookami Hanyou broke the other boy's concentration and caused his head to pan over and look at him.

"You've been awfully quiet," Naruto observed. "Got something on your mind?"

Haku shook his head. "Not really. I was just thinking about something."

"Hmm..."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>Having a plan of action and knowing what they needed to do did not make actually 'doing it' any easier, especially when people seemed to be deliberately impeding their progress.<p>

The group of four had set off in search of any fisherman that may have some knowledge about the Kaima, the so called Demon of the Sea. Unfortunately, none of the people they spoke to actually seemed to know much, if anything, about the creature itself. It seemed that none of them had ever seen this Kaima before; all they had were half-baked rumors and old legends that had been passed down for a while, nothing conclusive.

At least, that was what they got from those who were willing to speak with them on the subject. Not everyone they spoke to was actually willing to answer their questions. A few of the people they ran into were even quite rude.

Apparently, the locals did not like the idea of outsiders getting involved in their affairs. They had been pretty belligerent to the foursome even _after_ the group had explained that they were shinobi hired to take care of the Kaima for them.

You'd think these people would want their help, right? But no, they'd much rather suffer in silence and stupidity then let 'outsiders' aid them in their time of need. Idiots.

"You came to do what!?"

Of course, just because most people refused to answer their questions did not mean everyone they ran into was like that. There were some people who were willing to talk.

One woman in particular, whose desire to see someone get rid of the Kaima overpowered her natural distrust of outsiders, was more then willing to share what she knew once they had informed her of their purpose.

"Very well, I'll tell you what I know." The woman crossed her arms under her bust, her expression somewhat pensive as she began to weave her story of woe. "For as long as I've known, generations of fishermen have told the legend of Demon Island. This legend warns against even going near the place called the island of demons." She paused, her mind gathering all the information she had that she could present to the shinobi. "From the beginning, the waters off Demon Island were always rich in fish, but the hidden reefs there made it too dangerous for boats. Most people heeded these legends and stayed away."

"But not you, right?" said Naruto, taking a guess at where she was going with her story. The woman looked at him, then nodded her head.

"It was about ten years ago when it happened. During one unusually cool summer, all of the fish disappeared from the sea. We had no choice, so my husband and I ventured into the treacherous waters. We caught many fish, but when I returned to the surface with our haul, I was stunned to sea the boat completely empty. My husband was nowhere to be seen."

The woman closed her eyes, a look of longing crossing her face as she remembered the day she lost her husband.

Glancing at each other, three of the four Konoha ninja could not help but feel compassion towards this woman. Only Akane did not give the simple fisherwoman a pitying look. She was far too inured to death, destruction and the killing of innocents due to all the things she had seen in her long life to be affected by a story like this.

Opening her eyes once more, the woman continued where she left off. "Since then, one by one, everyone who has dared to approach that island has disappeared. Even those who go to search for the people who went missing. Now no one goes to that island, for fear that they too will be taken away."

The three shinobi plus one immortal Youkai looked at each other, all of them thinking the same thing.

Haku turned back to look at the woman who had just given them a good deal of prime information. "I heard something about a girl who had managed to return after being taken away," he said, causing the woman to flinch.

"Oh, yes, Isaribi." From the way she spoke, it was clear the woman did not like the young girl, or perhaps she was just wary of her. It all amounted to the same thing anyways. This woman was afraid of going near Isaribi due to her unfortunate circumstances.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you think you could tell me where Isaribi-san lives?" asked Haku. He gave the woman a very formal bow upon making his request.

Naruto looked from Haku to Akane. Grinning slyly, he leaned over to his mate so he could whisper in her ear. "I think someone's got a crush."

Akane giggled quietly, but shushed him in favor of listening to the conversation between Haku and the woman. While seemingly wary of the girl, she was still willing to inform the ice user where the young female lived.

Meanwhile, Anko was frowning as she stared at Demon Island, whose craggy peaks and desolate appearance could be seen in the distance.

They spoke with the woman a bit more, asking for specifics on what she knew about the disappearances and her own experience at Demon Island. In turn, the woman told them where she had been diving when her husband disappeared. After learning everything they could, the four Konoha Shinobi left.

The group walked along the boardwalk, making their way back to the inn they were staying at. The beach and ocean was on their left. The sounds of the waves lapping at the shore and the seagulls soaring overhead accompanied their short journey.

While they were walking, Anko told them all what their next plan of action was to be. "We now know that whoever is kidnapping these people is likely based on Demon Island."

"**We don't know that for sure," **Akane corrected the woman. **"The one responsible for these kidnappings could just be taking people when they go to Demon Island to throw us off their trail. For all we know, they could be living right here on Mother Island and are simply using the Legend of Demon Island to keep people from digging any deeper."**

"True," Anko conceded. "But this is the best lead we currently have." Akane had to concede to that, which she did so with a nod. "So, I think our course of action is clear. We'll ask around a bit more to see if anyone else has a differing opinion to offer, then head over to Demon Island tomorrow morning. We have four days before the ship we'll be guarding sets sail, so let's make this time count."

Akane and Naruto were both in agreement with this course of action. Neither really had anything to add, and they honestly didn't care all that much. It wasn't like anything they were likely to face could kill them. There were very few humans that could stand up to Naruto, and Akane, even when weakened, was more then a match for any human currently living. Her experience made her one of the most formidable opponents in the entire Elemental Nations.

Only Haku felt the need to disagree with Anko.

"Actually, Anko-sensei, I was hoping that I could visit Isaribi-san." When the woman with the purple hair in the shape of a pineapple looked at him, Haku decided to explain himself by elaborating further. "Isaribi-san was apparently one of those who had been captured by the person responsible for the disappearances. Yet she somehow managed to escape, which means she likely knows who is behind this and what they hope to accomplish. I think it would be best if I went to speak with her."

"You sure you don't just want to talk to her so you can ask her out on a date?" Naruto teased, causing the ice user to both scowl and blush at the same time.

"This is hardly a joking matter, Naruto-san," Haku tried to inform the blond immortal with a firm gaze and unwavering expression. He failed due to his red face, but it was a good attempt. "I only met her once and not for more then a minute. She didn't even speak to me. I just... I saw something familiar in her eyes, and I was hoping to be able to speak with her about it. I may be able to help her."

Naruto stared at the boy for a few long seconds... and then his face broke out into a vulpine-like grin. "I still think you just want to cozy up to this Isaribi girl."

Haku scowled, even as his cheeks began to burn something fierce.

So this was how Anko felt whenever Akane and Naruto teased her? What an unpleasant feeling.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Anko, not wanting an argument of any kind of erupt, spoke first.

"You can travel over to this Isaribi girl's place," she informed him.

"Thank you," Haku sighed in relief. It was so nice to see their team leader acting practical. It made for a nice change of pace, especially when compared to the two powerhouses of their squad.

"Just be sure to use a condom."

Haku's face began overheating. It looked like he had spoken too soon.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>The day was still young as Haku strolled down the beach. Above his head, the sun shone down, sending bright, warm rays of luminescence upon the land and sea, causing the ocean to sparkle as the tide lapped at the shore. The young ice using ninja took this moment to enjoy the relative peace, knowing that this peace would shatter as soon as he linked back up with the other members of his team.<p>

Seriously, even if they _didn't_ run into trouble (an unlikely occurrence given what had happened so far) and the rest of their mission proceeded smoothly (fat chance of that happening), the amount of chaos Akane and Naruto caused on a near daily basis was more then enough to make any kind of lasting peace seem like the pipe dreams of a foolish child. Those two were just that problematic.

On the other side of the beach that Haku was walking upon were a large series of cliffs that blocked off this small section of the ocean from the rest of the island. It made the area feel very isolated. Haku suspected that Isaribi had chosen this place as her home for that very reason.

It wasn't long before he reached his destination, a small hut built from wood and what appeared to be parts of a ship's hull. Running along the entire length of the front wall was graffiti. Haku read the kanji that had been painted on the wall, likely by some of the villagers with narrowed eyes. He did not like any of the words written on there.

The lights inside of the hut were on. Through the small window panes in the doorway, Haku could make out the silhouette of a female figure that he recognized as belonging to Isaribi. After staring at the black outline for several seconds, Haku took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and walked up to the door.

He stopped just in front of the door, wondering how he should proceed. Isaribi had not seen him yet, it seemed, as she was still going about her business. From the smell of fish and broth and the fact that smoke was coming out of the tiny makeshift chimney on the roof, he could only assume she was cooking. That still left him with a dilemma. Should he just knock on the door, greet the girl and hope for the best? Or maybe he should observe her more and speak with her as she was exiting her house?

That last one seemed kind of rude, though, and it made him feel like some kind of stalker. He didn't want to be a stalker, so it looked like knocking on the door and hoping for the best was the order of the day.

He just hoped she didn't react to his presence like she had last time.

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Achoo!"<p>

Hinata rubbed her nose after her rather loud sneeze. Frowning, she wondered if she was coming down with something, but decided that it was not important. It didn't matter if she got sick. All that mattered was getting enough strength to accomplish her goal.

She and her team had been out here on the training ground for nearly three hours now. Hinata would have come out here to train sooner, but she had been needed for her team to do missions in the morning. They had done everything from walking the Inuzuka dogs and painting a fence to pulling out weeds and shopping for a person's groceries.

Not exactly the type of glamorous jobs you'd expect a shinobi to be doing.

Just as Hinata was about to get back to her training, both of her teammates and her sensei walked over to her.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Kurenai asked in a kind of voice. That voice used to give Hinata comfort, but lately, for some reason, all it served to do was agitate the young genin. The blue-haired girl could not help but feel like her sensei was coddling her because the raven-haired beauty thought she was weak.

"I'm fine," Hinata replied, keeping her voice as polite as ever. "I think I just had something in my nose."

"So long as you're alright," Kurenai smiled. "Anyways, I think we're going to stop here for the day. You've all been working pretty hard, and I bet your tired."

"I know I am!" Kiba said, boisterous as ever. "All I want to do now is go home and sleep! You're tired too, right, Akamaru?"

"Bark!"

"I must admit to feeling rather exhausted myself." Shino's shades flashed in the light of the dying sun. "Why? Because we worked very hard today. Our training was an arduous affair." He looked over at the youngest female of their group. "Of course, none of us worked quite as hard as you have lately."

"Shino's right," Kiba added, with Akamaru barking out his own two cents. "You've been training really hard lately. I don't think I've ever seen anyone put as much effort into their training as you have."

"I agree with the boys on this." Kurenai gave the younger girl a proud smile. "You've been working very hard lately, and have improved by leaps and bounds. You should feel proud of yourself."

Hinata, being the polite girl that she is, bowed gratefully to the three. "Thank you, Shino-kun. Kiba-kun, Kurenai-sensei." As she rose from her bow, she looked at her raven-haired, red-eyed teacher. "If it is alright with you, Kurenai-sensei, I think I am going to stay out and train for a little while longer."

Kurenai bit her lip in concern. "I am not so sure that's a good idea. You could get hurt when you train, and if I am not there to supervise you..."

"I will be fine, Kurenai-sensei," Hinata told the woman firmly, or as firmly as Hinata could. Her sensei looked at her for a moment longer and, seeing the strange fire in her pupils eyes, sighed in defeat.

"I suppose this is something I can't talk you out of. Very well, you can continue training." Kurenai sent the young genin with blue hair and lavender eyes a stern look that was laced with concern. "But try not to overdo it, okay? While it's important to train in order to get stronger, it is just as important to make sure your body receives a proper amount of rest."

"Yes, Kurenai-sensei!"

Hinata's teammates and sensei soon made their exit, leaving the young Hyuuga genin alone in the training ground. Said lavender eyed female watched them leave, waiting until they had disappeared into the line of trees to turn back to her 'opponent'.

Said opponent was one of three training dummies, large logs embedded into the ground and wrapped up in rope, that was situated in the center of the training ground. Hinata glared fiercely at this training dummy, her mind conjuring up an image of a beautiful girl with red hair and red eyes, and supplanting this image over that of the dummies.

Tell her that she should give up on the one good thing that ever happened to her, would she? The bitch! Hinata was going to show her!

Breathing deeply, Hinata lowered her body into the wide stance favored by members of the Hyuuga clan. Her chakra burst forth, causing her eyes to show several of the veins running beneath them. Several more veins appeared on either side of her temple, throbbing as chakra flowed through them. These veins, combined with her fierce and potent glare, made the girl look almost frightening.

She probably would look frightening, if she wasn't such a cute little thing.

For a moment, all was still, all was silent. Not a sound was made, not from the animals, not even from the trees being rustled in a breeze. It was quiet, almost eerily so.

"Hya!"

This silence was broken as Hinata launched herself at the training dummy. Her open palmed hands lashed out, catching the log in the middle and causing several loud 'BANGS!' like the clapping of thunder to resound through the training ground with each strike. And with each strike the log itself rattled as she used chakra to enhance her speed and strength beyond what any normal person could accomplish.

Hinata did not know how long she stayed in that training ground, striking out at that dummy as she pretended it was Akane, but it must have been hours. By the time she had finally decided to call it quits, the sun was starting to set.

Getting out of her stance, the young, Hyuuga genin looked at the training dummy in satisfaction, noting the damage she had done to the exterior.

"That was quite impressive," a voice spoke up behind her.

Eyes widening, Hinata spun around, sweat flying off her body. As she finished about facing, the Hyuuga heiress was able to see the person who had spoken; an old man wrapped in bandages. He was wearing a white kimono that covered much of his body. Only his face was visible, and even then, she was only about to see about half his face because the rest was covered in more bandages. What's more, his left arm was wrapped in a sling, adding to his 'war victim' appearance. In his right hand was a long walking cane.

"Danzou-san," Hinata greeted the man warily. Her father was on the shinobi council, so she knew who this man was. Both she and her sister had always been told to be wary of Danzou, and that he was not to be trusted. "Can I help you with something?"

"I believe that is not the question you should be asking," Danzou said as he walked forward, his cane tapping lightly against the ground. Hinata's body coiled like a spring as he approached her, but he seemed to not notice. Or he was ignoring her tense posture.

"I was watching you practice." Danzou eyed the log as he came up alongside of her, which had several dents in it from where her palms had struck.

He was watching her practice? Hinata tried not to shudder at the creepy compliment.

"I've noticed that your form is excellent, however, you seem to be having some trouble with the standard Jyuuken forms."

Hinata frowned at the true comment, but did not say anything. Mainly because she did not know what to say.

"Your body is much too flexible for the rigid stance required for Jyuuken." Hinata flinched at the comment on her greatest flaw, but Danzou continued ignoring her very obvious physical tells. "However, where your elders might feel that your inability to truly conform to their rigid style is a weakness, I only see a strength."

"W-What do you mean?" asked Hinata. Despite knowing how dangerous this man was thanks to her father, she could not help but want to hear what he had to say about her. He said he saw strength in her form. How could that be?

"The Hyuuga are some of the greatest taijutsu practitioners in the Elemental Nations, this is true, but their rigid structure and inability to adapt is their greatest weakness and will likely be their downfall if it is not corrected." Danzou finally turned to face her, his single eye boring into her lavender ones. "I believe that you can change this, make the Hyuuga clan strong again by bringing something new to your clan. With my help, of course."

"Y-Your help?" Hinata blinked. "W-Why would you want to help me?" She looked down, her hair overshadowing her eyes. "I'm not very strong." She wasn't even strong enough to keep the boy she loved away from the arms of another.

"That is where you are wrong." Hinata looked up. "You simply do not know how to apply your strength yet, but with my help, you will finally be able to achieve your true potential."

Hinata worried her lower lip for a moment, her mind silently contemplating all she was being told. If she was understanding him right, Danzou was offering her aid with her training. However...

"I-If I were to accept your help, what would you want in return?"

"Merely that you bring strength back to your clan." Despite his seemingly honest and patriotic answer, Hinata was still hesitant to accept his aid. It was then, after several seconds, that Danzou finally spoke the words that would change the lives of Hinata and many others in Konoha, for better or worse. "If you accept my aid, you will become strong, strong enough to even beat Akane and win back Uzumaki Naruto."

Any decision that Hinata may have made evaporated like ice when it's thrown into a raging fire. Now there was only one choice left to her.

"I'll accept your help."

She would become strong. Stronger then anyone could imagine. And then, when she was strong enough, she would show Akane that she was the one who deserved to be by Naruto's side.

Oh yes. She would show her.

"Then come." Danzou did not show any emotions. It was not his way to show his emotions. But if he could, there would have been a victorious smile on his face. "Let us begin your training."

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>"Are you sure letting Haku go off on his own was a good idea?" asked Naruto.<p>

The duo of Konoha ninja plus one all powerful entity beyond mortal comprehension had spent the rest of the day asking around for clues and confirmations about the disappearances that happened around Demon Island after Haku departed from their company. They had spent several hours speaking with various store owners and fishermen, hoping to gather what little information they could to support or deny what they had already learned. A few of the people had been a bit more receptive to their questions once they learned that the three were already aware of the disappearances and what had been going down on the mysterious Demon Island.

For example, they had been able to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that the disappearances _did_ happen on or around Demon Island, and that anyone who went there also ended up disappearing. They also learned that the last disappearance was around two months ago, just a few weeks before Isaribi had made her miraculous reappearance.

Anko sat down on the edge of the bed, bouncing several times as the springs in the mattress tried to accommodate for the added weight.

"I don't see why not," the purple haired jonin answered with a shrug. "Ice boy might not be as powerful as you two or even myself, but he's still pretty good. I would place his skills around Chunin in level. He'll be fine."

"That's not really what I meant," Naruto sighed. "I'm sure there are very few people around here that would be able to beat him in a straight up fight. But by splitting us up, we weaken our own forces, and while I am confident that Akane and I can handle anything that comes our way, I don't want to release anymore power than I have to. It wouldn't do if we were backed into a corner and myself or Akane were forced to use more power then we intended. The last thing we need to have happen is for one of us to destroy Demon Island with one of our attacks."

"Like I said, don't worry too much about ― wait." Anko blinked, then turned to look at Naruto. "Did you just say 'accidentally destroy Demon Island'?"

"Yes."

"I thought so." Anko nodded to herself. She then looked at the pair as they snuggled together underneath their joined fuuton. "Can you really destroy an island? Akane I can picture it, but you? You're pretty powerful, I'll admit, but destroying an island would take some serious fire power."

"**I could destroy that island easily," **Akane informed Anko. She then added, **"And Naruto currently has more power then I do. He would be able to destroy that island ten times over if he released all of his power at once."**

"Ah... so I see..." Anko was not sure how she should feel about the fact that two of her genin had the capacity to destroy an entire island. Glad that they were on her side? Or jealous because one of those power houses was at least 10 years younger then she was?

* * *

><p><strong>~Story of the Ten-Tailed Wolf~<strong>

* * *

><p>(Two Days Later...)<p>

Guren frowned as she looked over the hideous creations of the mad doctor who worked on Demon Island. These... things, for she could not consider them anything other then a thing, were all disgusting, ugly and brutish looking creatures. There was no elegance to them, just a mindless brutality that sickened her to see.

She did not care for ugly things. A person as beautiful as herself had no use for the ugly. It didn't help their case that aside from being the most putrid wastes of rotting flesh and scales that she had ever seen, they were also mindless and stupid. The monsters didn't seem to possess any form of sentience other then their baser instincts. They attacked anything at will, even each other.

"So, what do you think of my creations?" asked Amachi. He _at least _looked very pleased with his monstrous looking creatures. The man was eying them with barely masked glee.

"The only possible use these things have is to serve as canon fodder," Guren declared without a care in the world. There was no subtlety in her voice as she blatantly declared Amachi's experiments all but worthless.

Amachi twitched, but quickly reigned in his emotions. "I'll admit, they could use some work. Despite this, I do feel these creatures are a success. They may not have a very high level of intelligence, but they are incredibly strong, can breath underwater indefinitely, and have the unique ability to manipulate water in a way that is similar to Suiton Ninjutsu. These creatures would be more than a match for any army in a sea fairing battle."

"You mean if they don't kill each other first?" said Guren, watching in disgust as one of the monsters ripped the head of another one off in a splatter of gore. As blood stained the already soaking floor in even more carnelian fluids, she turned away in disgust. "The only thing these things are good for is being a meat shield, maybe not even that, since they're so stupid and mindless. These... beasts would probably be too busy fighting each other to even notice when an enemy is right in front of them."

As Amachi began shaking in rage at the perceived insult, alarms began blaring inside of the laboratory.

"What is that noise?"

"It's the intruder alert," Amachi quickly ran over to one of the monitors in the back of the room and typed several commands into the console. The screen flickered from the pure blue of standby mode to the image shown from the external camera near the front gate. "It seems we have intruders."

Guren came up behind the doctor and looked at the screen over his shoulder. Smirking as she saw an image of two people appearing on screen, she said, "Well, well, it looks like my masters old toy has finally decided to show up, and she brought one of her genin along with her, though, this one is different from that ice user."

For a moment, she wondered where the ice user was, but quickly decided it wasn't worth thinking about. This was probably just a scouting party anyways.

"You know something." Guren's smirk grew as the two on the screen stared at the large doors in front of them. "I think I may have just found a use for those ugly creatures, after all."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as well as this arc in general. This is the second to last chapter for the Land of Sea arc, so the next chapter is going to be the grand finale. You know, it'll be the epic showdown between Anko, Akane, Naruto and Haku and Guren and her horde of butt ugly monsters. It should be a blast.<strong>

**For all those who are interested, please check out my blog. That's where I post all of the answers to questions you guys ask here. I have also built a section that will be filled with writing tips for people who want to write, but may be having some trouble actually writing it. If you have a specific topic that you want me to talk about in blog, like how to create realistic and enjoyable OCs or how to change a canon character's personality in a way that does not feel forced, just ask in a review or send me a PM or even post the question on my blog. I will do my best to answer any and all questions you may have.**

**I think that about covers everything. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next one. Later.**


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